Ascent
by HarleyQuinn4242
Summary: I've always been a coward. I'm not proud of it, but I won't lie. But there's only so much cowering I can take, I'm going to help. I'm going to do something, despite the giant metal beings that may nor may not be in the way... OCxSideswipe
1. Prologue

The austere news anchor's voice floated faintly from the buzzing, archaic TV that rested on a wilted dresser.

"Recently… havoc on… many dead… Will Mission City ever recover from this terrorist attack?"

Upon the last detached word a slow fog began to engulf my already smoky gray eyes. My heart instantly started racing and I was enveloped in a cold sweat even though my frail form rested in-between a thick, rough quilt and a somewhat lumpy mattress.

_No! No!_

My lips trembled from the effort to shout but remained stubbornly in a taut line. I desperately tried to focus through the mist that I was falling into on something, anything. On the now gray TV screen. The stained, filthy carpet. The unadorned, off-white walls. Even the curly black strand of my own hair twisting in front of my face, but it was all to no avail as I was ruthlessly thrust into another place, another time.

_Smooth silver metal slid like liquid over black chrome. Delayed, the sound of the corresponding sleek screech reached the ears of both the fleeing humans and the gigantic metal creatures dancing through their horrific battle, causing them to spring asunder before gliding together once more in a wave of sparks. All of these lightning quick motions appeared in a slow reel, as though through the rolling screen of an old movie; murky screams seemed to travel through thick, syrupy air as explosions jostled the view._

_One of the robotic beings, tall and dignified, pressed forward with a regal battle cry that complimented his blue and red flamed body and the righteous glimmer to his blue, so blue, eyes. The other, a repugnant malefactor with winking black metal, unveiled razor sharp teeth and narrowed his crimson eyes in retaliation. They quickly became ensnared once more in a turmoil of metal and strange, blue liquid. _

_Slowly, but so quickly, the inky metal man-no, he was a monster- stepped backwards and the squishing crack of a flesh-bag was heard._

I rocketed back into a tremulous body gasping and sobbing. A repulsive taste spread throughout my mouth, causing me to lurch off of my tattered bed and stumble towards the tiny, cracking bathroom where I proceeded to expunge the contents of my stomach.

"No… No.." The word continued to tumble from my lips with accompanying sobs.

_I could've saved them._

The visions had started two weeks ago. These visions at least. I've had flashes of things I've never seen, horrible, awful things, as long as I can remember, some of the past, some of the present, and usually ones of the future. It's been my curse ever since I saw Charlie fall off of the swing set and onto his neck five minutes before it happened in the first grade. Of course when I ran crying to the teacher saying I knew it was going to happen, that I saw it, I was marked as a loony before I even knew what was going on. Not only that but about 99% of the time I have no idea what's going on when the mist clouds over me and I'm left in a complete state of disorientation. Imagine sitting in a classroom one minute and then being sucked into the scene of a car accident and feeling every inch of someone's agony as they're burned in the wreckage. Try turning that into something understandable as you come up gasping with a room of English students leering at you. So I've ignored them. For years now I've been turning a blind eye to the havoc that seems to reach my mind before it reaches reality, pouring myself into my art (also the cause of my dirt poor conditions) and taking sleeping pills to avoid the visions that plague my dreams. Car accidents, suicides, fires, storms, twisters, earthquakes, all these barely comprehensible scenes turned away from my thoughts.

However, the same denial that has saved me all these years from agony and crippling migraines, another lovely benefit of my 'gift', has just backfired on me within the short time span of two weeks. You see, my visions, as I said before, are cloudy, almost never truly enough to fully know who's involved and where it is, although occasionally they are more or less clear. But these visions… The very first of them was probably one of the most luminous I've ever had. A crystal cut scene of horror, a raging battle with giant explosions, however it lacked sound. However apparent it was, it wasn't enough to determine what the heck was going on. But slowly, steadily over the two weeks the images of the battle scene grew clearer and more realistic, the fifth gaining sound quality, and slowly, against my vehement struggles, gaining enough clarity for me to see the town. _Is that…. Mission City Park? _And what exactly was fighting. _Oh my God… What is that?!_

As of yesterday the battle I have been able to see for two weeks finally took place, destroying half of a large city and inciting a giant death toll. And therefore also inciting a wave of guilt over me. Understand, I've never truly had to feel guilt over not helping people through my visions because they're typically about as clear as a mirage, I can't understand what's even happening most of the time until I see it manifest in reality. But I'd clearly been able to see what happened in that city for a good time before it actually occurred, including the fatal step that disgusting metal monster took onto a little girl with wicked brown curls and startling green eyes.

Which now led me to my contorted position on the cool, cracked tile floor of my bathroom with a mixture of sobs, gags, and guilt wracking through my long, slender frame.

I slowly, so as not to incur another round of sickness, uncurled from my place on the ground and pulled myself up to the small sink, immediately reaching for my toothbrush and a small bottle of sleeping pills. As I vigorously brushed my teeth I glanced up at myself in the mirror with my smoky gray eyes. A melancholy face met my view. Large, misty eyes sat above purple rings amid a smattering of freckles on pale skin. Full, but dry, lips were tugging down at the corners, as I knew they always were, and curly black hair was falling out of a messy high ponytail. Slowly I set down the toothbrush, my nails, chewed down, scraping on the porcelain counter and stared at myself for a minute before tossing the pill bottle onto the ground in a sudden rage and twisting my head to the side with tear filled eyes.

"I can't live like this. I can't look at my stained face in the mirror." I trembled as I made my decision.

My life is a wreck, the only good thing being my art. My days and nights were spent in an immortal loop of drawing, working, and sleeping with no gaps in a weak, selfish attempt to avoid the visions. I took pills that left me drugged and groggy and avoided people as a safeguard against the anguish that came when I saw them get hurt but was unable to warn them, as though I was trapped behind an impenetrable glass wall, isolated from the world but still subject to its horrors.

But the most recent horror was the clearest I've ever had in my life, and the anguish that followed was the most feeling I've had in a long while, and hell, I'm not letting the small taste of humanity I had get away from me again, I'm weary of isolation.

So my tremulous courage and desire for something to fill the void has left me with an option I haven't explored, ever.

_So… How do I start this?_

I moved from my long static position in the bathroom and back into the bedroom, my sheets still in their tangled mass from my rush out. I began to rush about my room, not particularly caring about the mess, and grabbed my small black backpack, proceeding to shove assorted clothes into it. A black t-shirt matching the one I now wore, a grey tank top, a pair of fading blue jeans, all tossed in with a reckless hand. After a wide assortment of random clothes were shoved in without care, I grabbed my tiny black laptop and added that into the bulging bag and grabbed one more bag to fill with my drawing pads and pencils that lay scattered about the dull room. I reached up to fix my ponytail into something socially acceptable as I let my eyes sweep over the ugly, cramped room one last time before I stepped into the door frame of my small apartment.

_This could be the last time I ever see this place._

Oh well. I allowed the door to creak close, that place had never truly been home.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so, this is my new story! This is the sort-of prologue, and I will be continuing it shortly. So please review with any sort of concerns, I'm totally open to criticism, I really want to improve my writing! **

**Also this story is not going to be long most likely, it's supposed to take place between the first and second movie. So yeah! Please continue to read! (: Thank you!  
**


	2. Wasteland

My misty eyes darted nervously over the boisterously yellow plastic marker, the words "DO NOT CROSS" popping off in bold black. How flimsy this little bit of plastic is, but how much weight it holds over people, myself included. It has the simple but imposing power to hold back a mass of people just by fluttering in its flimsy position. It was an unspoken but widely understood mark of authority, a mark that I was about to blatantly ignore.

I could just go back. This is so unlike me. I'm wispy and ultimately weak, like a cloud of smoke slowly dissipating into air, but here I am, the little puff in the air about to do something stupid and reckless. Not to mention crazy. But I could return to my safety net, there's still time; I know that there's a nice little drugstore down the street with lovely sleeping pills that would allow me to sink into a foggy-

_No! You can't go back to that! That's not safety, that's burying yourself alive! Besides, you already did one stupid thing today, might as well continue the streak._

I winced at the memory of the first course of action I took after leaving the confines of my apartment, causing my eerily pale skin to scrunch around my nose in self-disgust.

You see, despite having been labeled as crazy many times before, I decided to have a little faith in the American system. I decided to try to take the proper way through.

"_So Allison-"_

"_It's Alithia. Alithia Aaliyah." I cringed as the officer sitting across from me at a cool metal table glared for my interruption, his eyes steely, before he continued in a slow, skeptical drawl._

"_Alithia. So Alithia, what you're telling me is that you know exactly what occurred in _my _city, arguing with all of the numerous witnesses saying otherwise, contradicting all previous, official military reports, disregarding all of the established evidence to the contrary, and you just so happen to know it through some creepy premonitions that you've had as long as you can remember-but you've never done anything about until now. Oh, and these 'premonitions' showed you that there were giant metal people holding a death brawl in the middle of the road." By the end of the old officer's recounting he was scowling underneath his red, graying mustache, his jumpy blond partner was snickering into his hand as he fidgeted, and I was sinking deeper than my already wilted position in an uncomfortable metal chair._

"_Yes…" My voice left my lips in a pitiful, breathless squeak._

_The old officer, who rather reminded my of an aged dog graying around the muzzle, began to rub the stress wrinkles across his forehead while his partner broke out into open guffaws. I sunk even farther into my sharp chair, a splotchy blush spreading across my face in mortification. _

"_Okay," the grizzled officer drew out with a long sigh, "time for a drug test."_

Needless to say that hadn't gone well.

After I had been cleared, which took an annoyingly large amount of time since the officer had a hard time believing I wasn't whacked out, and then roughly booted from the police station, I was left drawing a blank on what do to next. Honestly-I hate to admit to this cowardice, but it's the truth-my first thought was to go straight back to my cruddy apartment and hole up there again because from that point I knew there were few options. What could I do? Go higher up on the chain of command just to receive more guffaws and drug tests until I finally got shipped to an asylum? No thank you. Go form my own superhero team of crime fighters? Tempting, but I don't really think I look good in spandex.

Really that left me with one option, the one that filled me with both apprehension and a warped feeling of excitement, which made me fill with even more worry. For the first time ever in the 22 years of my life, I would, instead of rejecting them altogether, have to embrace my visions, using them as a tool to find someone who _would_ listen to me. And quite honestly that idea terrifies me. I've never even attempted anything close to even paying them attention, for all I know this could be a complete failure and I would be a complete waste of space once more. But I also have to realize, I've never had a vision before that was as crystal clear as the one of those two metal giants fighting, however gruesome and terrifying it may have been.

Besides, some little part inside of me was enjoying the feeling of having a purpose, and in reality I'm not sure I could've gone back to my dull box of an apartment after leaving it.

So I made my first attempt to induce a vision. And by that I mean I tried to sit on the ground and clear my head of all except for what I wanted to know. All I succeeded in was getting sore from my rigid posture. So basically attempt one was a failure. How ironic that when I finally wanted my visions they refused to come forth. So after various attempts at getting the mist to roll out (with no success), I came here.

I came to the scene of many of my nightmares, but also where the spark was finally put back into me. I came to the heart of Mission City, a place still riddled with damage and crawling with people who seem to have black holes for eyes. I recognize those eyes.

_Okay, it's time._

Swiftly, albeit jerkily, I lifted up the gaudy yellow plastic and darted underneath into the most destroyed part of the city by far. Buildings were crumbling in hollow masses, sidewalks were either shredded into gravel or completely absent, grass lay in scorched patches, and the space all through this wasteland was filled with a thick, lurid silence that was disturbing in a city setting. I trekked forward slowly down the faded street, unable to keep my foggy eyes from tracing over the ruins. A small apartment caught my view. Half of the brick building was ashes, the other half slouching but still upright somehow. Furniture was spilling out of the torn open side and hanging precariously over the edge, some torn open or burned, and as I continued to look my eyes slowly came to rest on a small dollhouse that had finally lost its shaky grip on the edge and fallen to the pile of ashes below, stirring up a cloud of dust.

I looked away, my eyes glistening with a shock of sorrow.

"Miss? Miss you can't be in here!" I jumped at the break in the silence and turned only to see a stout, slightly pudgy officer approaching me with a weary look on his face.

Crap. Not even out of sight from the yellow marker and I'm already caught. I felt an icy flow of panic fill my veins; I just had to reach the spot, I couldn't back out when I'd just jumped in. So I did another reckless action, I ran from the cop.

"Miss! Hey, wait!" I drowned out the rest of the shocked man's words and I put all my focus into sprinting forward down the closest path.

I'll admit, it's been a long time since I last ran, but I forgot how _exciting_ it was. When I was still only in high school I used to run all of the time, it was my sole activity apart from drawing; running was my only therapy back then seeing as pills weren't exactly as easy to get a hold of. I ran faster and faster, my pulse pumping in my ears, making rapid turns, just enjoying the motion even as my chest grew tight from lack of air in a pathetically quick manner. Despite the whole air issue, I continued to sprint. I ran past the crumbling buildings, past the demolished paths, past the snarled lampposts until finally my body's lack of usage caught up with me and I was forced to stop. I hunched in half, breathing like I'd run five miles rather than a couple blocks.

_Man I need to get in shape._

I flipped upwards, my long hair flicking back in it's ponytail and still breathing harshly, and slowly began to walk forward, all of the rush from my short sprint dissipating. The only sounds that reached my ears were that of my own breathing. The part of the destroyed section of city I was in now was even worse than the first. Not only were buildings in the same pitiful state as before, but the streets were pock-marked with craters that were gushing giant shards of pavement and rock into the surrounding area and there were dried, muddy red marks littering the area. As my gasps leveled out my mouth began to feel like cotton and I swallowed heavily. I know that I'm close.

I cautiously moved forward, attempting to ignore that various signs of terror around me and focus on my goal. I pushed through the street, moving around and sometimes through craters, which grew more frequent and violent as I moved towards the heart of the destruction. Finally I came upon the largest of the craters. It was huge, and the giant rocks the surrounded it spoke of the force that gave birth to the scar. Around it the ground was littered with various used military weapons that seemed threatening despite their static position and dull, dried blue stains. And they're saying _terrorists _did this?

Despite the apprehension bunching in my stomach I moved towards the crater. I knew this was the moment I'd been building towards. I was going to attempt to use my wicked curse to find one of those… Whatever they are, and somehow help them. I just realized how vague that is, but it's the only real goal I've had for awhile and what else can I do with my visions crippling my social life and concentration? Also, some small part of me was hoping that if these military men I'd seen in my visions could accept giant metal people maybe they could accept a girl haunted by things yet to come…

I continued forward in an almost trancelike motion, creeping towards the center of destruction. I shivered as the tell-tale signs of my power began to swirl through my system. My stomach began to twist and my blood grew icy cold and heavy as lead. My head began to feel an intense pressure and I whimpered slightly in response, but continued forward anyways. I was now to the point of stumbling through a splitting headache and right as I reached the edge of the crater the shuddering that had overtaken my body forced me to the ground, landing on top of one of the menacing army guns on the ground.

_No!_

Before I could attempt to slide into the hole, the mist clouded over my eyes and I was sucked into another time…

_My tall frame was rocked by the explosions that rained all around me, causing even my bones to shudder from the force. I jumped behind a well placed army vehicle just in time to avoid another shot from Starscream. I grit my teeth against the corresponding explosion before jumping back into the fray and attempting to both shoot at the Decepticon and get civilians out of harms way. As I was helping a sobbing teenager get to an alley and to safety, my eyes landed darted around the scene, scanning for danger. I saw Ironhide, fighting and living up to his title of weapons specialist, Lennox, leading our force in our efforts to help the Autobots and save lives, and countless soldiers all following these examples. I also managed to catch a glimpse of the blast heading my way._

_I lunged the last few feet into the alley, fast despite my heavy gear and the screaming adolescent I had to shield. Even with the burst of ingrained speed acquired from torturous training, I wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the full blast and a scorching piece of metal shrapnel caught my cheek, leaving a painful but minor cut. _

"_Run kid!" And with those words I once again returned to the blazing battle scene._

_Lennox quickly dashed through the war to my side._

"_Epps, are you okay?!" His voice strained over the sounds of battle._

"_Yeah, let's kick some Decepticon ass!" I felt both my fury and pride grow all at once._

I snapped back into my body for the smallest instant, my stomach heaving and a gross mixture of tears and sweat coating my face. I was given just enough time to writhe in pain before I was pulled back under…

_I sighed lowly as the pleasant feeling of sinking into a comfy Starbucks chair with a steaming cup of coffee settled into me. _

_Man I love vacation time._

_I sipped on the hot drink as I let my defense drop ever so slightly in the relaxing atmosphere and just sat, not having to work on the base for the first time in far too long. As I just allowed my tense muscles to unwind I began to people watch through the large glass window into the new mall. My eyes landed on a young mom with fiery red hair who was wearily trying to convince her electric little boy that he didn't need the monster truck. Then they drifted over to a lean, sharp beanpole of a young man who was eyeing a sporting goods store with a look of both envy and disgust. As I was going to look at a small group of teenagers laughing together and electric advertisement for Doritos caught my eye._

_Man when was the last time I'd had Doritos? As I studied the bright ad the screen slid up and a new display was put up._

_Madison City Mall grand opening!_

With a gasp and a lurch I rocketed back into my body, the lurch rolling me over the edge of the crater. I tumbled down the side, the fall doing nothing whatsoever to help my churning stomach, and when I reached he bottom I dry-heaved for a good few minutes. Now not only was I covered in sweat and tears, but also covered with an array of grime and rubble coupled with several small scratches. I groaned as my heaving receded but a migraine continued to assail me. It felt as though someone had taken all of the energy out of my system in one huge sweep.

It took several attempts to get my shaking, weak form to rise, and then several more to get it to clamber out of the hole. When I finally did I collapsed onto the ground in a disheveled, shuddering heap. I'm not quite sure how long I sat like that in agony, but by the time the shaking stopped from pain a new shaking from cold had begun and night had descended. Slowly, my head still swimming, I stood up and began to stumble my way back out of this place, which was infinitely more depressing at night than during the day, if that was even possible.

If you've ever been to a city you know that they don't get truly dark. Yes night comes, but there's always houselights, street lamps, car headlights, something. But in this empty wasteland, there was a level of darkness unknown to me. It seemed to scream of the loss here even more fiercely than the actual scene did in the daytime. So it was with haste that I used my crummy phone as a light source and scampered back under the yellow mark of the authority and left the scene. The kind I was hoping to prevent from happening again.

I wrapped my arms around my fragile form and kept my head down, my bangs covering my face, as I reentered the area of the living. I speed walked through the streets, which, while there were only a few house lights and street lamps, were far brighter than the ones I had just left and actually contained people. I continued on my random path, not really quite sure where I was going, until I landed in front of a small, fading diner with a an almost cheery sign that proclaimed 'Open 24 hours!' in fluorescent red. I swiftly opened the glass doors and nearly ran past a startled waitress and into the single, rather grimy bathroom, proceeding to lock the door. It was good I did too, because when I caught a glimpse of myself in the dirty mirror my pale skin went even whiter.

My curly hair was snarled and knotted, falling out of it's ponytail once more, and my lower lip was split, leaving a trail of blood I was surprised I hadn't noticed before. Streaks had been drawn across my face from the sweat rolling across the layer of dirt on it, and I had fairy obvious tear marks and bloodshot gray eyes. And that was only my face. My simple black t-shirt had several small rips, as did the skin of my arms, and overall I had a layer of dirt to match the one on my face.

I almost began to cry again, but instead I turned on the sink as high as it would go even though it stubbornly refused to run hot water. I continuously splashed freezing water on my face until it was mostly clean, but there was nothing I could do about the split lip or my eyes. I then proceeded to tear off several rolls of the thing paper towels and clean off the rest of myself methodically, attempting to ignore my pathetic state. This is what my visions create.

After I was clean enough I reached into my backpack and swapped clothes into and almost identical t-shirt and jeans, knowing that I couldn't go back out in the tattered garments I currently donned. After that and fixing my ponytail as best as I could, I returned to the diner, not missing the dirty looks the waitress I had startled was sending me. Whatever, I'd had worse to deal with than a peeved waitress.

The diner was empty except for me and the server, so I decided to sink into a corner booth and set my stuff next to me as the annoyed waitress came to get my order, slightly calming and turning more curious as she saw my split lip.

"What would you like?" Her tone still remained cold even though her eyes were roaming over my various scratches.

"Just coffee please." My voice came out in a scratchy whisper.

After she left I just sat for a moment, my thoughts finally returning to the vision.

Madison City Mall huh? Looks like I have a new target.

* * *

**A/N: Hi all! Now for the real beginning! (: I hope you like this chapter, and yeah I know no Autobots yet, but she has to work up to that, so please have patience with me... Anyways! Thanks for reading! Any criticism is welcome, I would like to improve. (: Until next time!**

**Word Count: 3,167 **


	3. The Princess and the Dragon

A low hiss escaped my lips as I applied some Neosporin to the healing cut on my lower lip. While it looked far better than it had two days ago when I'd acquired it, the cut was still visible and my lip was still slightly swollen and very tender.

I pulled back from the slightly smudged mirror of the hotel I had spent the night in, giving myself a once over before I departed, feeling very much like a teenager out on her first date, nervous but filled with a fluttery sort of excitement. My hair was loose from its usual ponytail, I'd broken my only hair tie yesterday, and it was falling in wild curls around my face. While I still had some scrapes and cuts littering my face and body, overall I looked better than I had in ages. The dark rings that had once seemed a permanent mark under my eyes were slowly but surely fading as I regained a normal sleep schedule and even the deathly white pallor of my skin had seemed to gain a light flush of blood underneath the surface.

With a slight jerk I realized that I looked _alive _for the first time in a long time. Maybe it was from the fact I'd actually been sleeping for a normal amount of time, maybe it was from the fact that I had a goal now, maybe it was from the decision I'd made that it was time to live again, but either way it was nice to look into the mirror and see a person instead of a corpse.

Straightening the gray tank top I wore over faded blue jeans, I walked out of the small but clean hotel bathroom and into the single bedroom. After I'd officially decided that it was worth a shot to go to Madison City and actually figuring out where it was, it took me a day to get to the rural but steadily growing town by bus. Madison was a very pleasant city that was an odd blend of agriculture and typical city life, and I'd immediately appreciated the long fields surrounding the town and the wonderful vineyards, my artist's hand itching to layer the endless grapevines all onto paper. However my first step had instead been to figure out where the mall was and whether or not I'd missed the opening of it. Luckily I hadn't, and I'd gleaned from a very bold graying woman who'd gleefully told me that she'd lived here her whole life and that the town is so _big _now that it was opening today at nine. So after satisfying my art craving hand and sketching not only the sea of grapes but also the town's little downtown park, I'd splurged on a cheap motel for the night. While the room was small and full of too much furniture for the space, it was cozy and the people who worked there were just close enough to be attentive but just far enough to stay out of my space.

The best part: I hadn't had one vision yet. And let me tell you, it's rare for me to go a day without one and I'd never realized how much my head hurt all of the time until it had time to relax. All in all I felt great, a sort of vivacity filling me that simultaneously made me glow from the inside and made me cling to it, never wanting to let it go. How long had it been since I'd last drawn? Days? Months? Before time had never held meaning to me, it's not as though I was going anywhere and when I was home I was in a drug-induced sleep, and when I wasn't I was either suffering from visions or from the massive migraines they induced. Quite frankly, I could care less about the cause, I was just happy for my short reprieve from the agony even as I began to question how long it could last.

I slowly moved about the small hotel room, gathering up my drawing pad and clothes into my bag, being careful not to scrunch the pad and crumple my artwork. After giving the room a once over to make sure I had everything, I slung my two bags over my shoulders and allowed my feet to lead me out of the room and make the short trip to the front desk.

Sitting there popping gum and fiddling with a small pink phone was a blonde girl who looked to be about twenty. She had sleek blonde hair that fell to her chin and reminded me of a seal's coat and sharp green eyes resting in-between thick black lashes and under glasses. A smattering of freckles lay across her high cheekbones and the small smile on her glossed lips gave a feel of friendly teasing.

I ambled my way over to the desk, slightly smiling as the girl fumbled to put away her phone and look professional.

"Hi, how can I help you?" A pleasant southern accent lilted through her words, marking her as someone not from around here.

"I'd like to check out please." We exchanged a small smile as I passed over my room keys and she began the computerized process of checking me out.

My eyes slowly began to drift around the lobby. It was cheery and conveniently located just down the road from the mall, and despite being located in the more modern part of this town the hotel retained a rural feel. When I'd first checked in the place had felt near deserted, and even as I checked out at near ten, it was still quiet and empty.

"You're not from around here are you?" The blonde's voice slowly pulled me out of my reverie and I blinked before her words registered.

"No. I'm just here for the mall's opening. You aren't either are you?" I allowed the conversation to go on as I was given a receipt.

However, contrary to my first thoughts the girl shook her head with a tiny smile.

"You wouldn't think so, but I'm from here. I just left for awhile, but this town draws you back in." Her face now held a slightly melancholy expression, and I began to get uncomfortable, not used to dealing with people.

"Yes, well, it's beautiful." My curt response ended the conversation as I snatched the receipt before swiftly exiting.

I darted out of the hotel and emerged into sunlight, warm and striking. I began to speed walk down to the mall, nearly getting hit by a beat up purple Honda as I crossed the road, so immersed was I in my own thoughts. Why had that girl bothered me so? She was friendly and obviously wanted conversation, so why did I brush her off like she was a fly? I grimaced as I realized why, my gray eyes flashing with a hint of sorrow that matched hers. People and I don't mix. Whenever I make friends, it's all fine and pleasant until I scare them off. Unintentionally of course, but it's hard not to when you tell them that their grandma's going to die in two days or that they're going to get into a car wreck tomorrow. Or even worse, when I get a vision in front of them and go into the shuddering, sobbing, vomiting mess that they reduce me to and they get scared off by that. Friends are nice, but not worth the pain and loneliness that comes when they ditch you.

I finally reached the mall, a large building that lay sprawled between several thriving, smaller stores. As I approached the opening, I tried to shake off the dull jab that came with remembering my isolation, instead focusing on my goal. I mean, maybe it's time for a change. I surged in with a large wave of people all swirling through the entrance to the mall and was bombarded with a sufficiently distracting atmosphere. I had taken the entrance to the food court area, and all around I could hear the sizzling of grease and the murmur of countless voices. Tantalizing smells called my nose in several different directions and my stomach growled in a sharp order to eat, but despite the varying calls, I already knew where I was eating.

I approached the famed coffee shop itself, sliding through the glass door and ordering a tall caramel macchiato from a sleepy, dull teenage boy with more piercings than manners. After handing over my cash and receiving my change and drink, I turned around and sat at a small corner table, settling in to watch for the man called Epps. However, as soon as I did so my silvery-gray eyes widened with shock and then narrowed with frustration.

_Crap! You're so stupid Alithia! _

I just came to the obvious realization that I have no idea what Epps looks like. Intense amounts of seething frustration and self-loathing coursed through my veins. After all this work I have no idea what the man even looks like. Rather than seeing him in my visions I had been him, leaving me with only a name and a place to go on.

I allowed a sharp breath out of my nostrils, my eyes shut as I attempted to calm the well of disappointment in me. I opened my eyes, observing the scene before me. Perhaps I could still pick this man out.

Currently in the coffee shop there were five people, three of whom had window seats like I recollected from my vision. Unfortunately, all three were males so I couldn't narrow it down past that. One was a gangly man with fiery red hair who was tapping away on an iPhone and had an unfortunately large nose. Another was a short Latino who had impressive amounts of corded muscle and was sipping on steaming black coffee while glancing around. The final was a tall African-American man with a relaxed look on his face as he reclined into a cushioned seat with a fresh brewed cup of coffee. And none of them happened to have either an army uniform or a nametag, so I'm stuck.

I felt a small crease form in-between my eyebrows as they furrowed in concentration, my mind trying to decided which may be the mysterious soldier, if any. As I was focusing on the oblivious trio, a spark of red caught my vision, and I glanced to the left to see a young, redheaded mom with a mischievous looking little boy. My eyes widened in recognition.

_They're from the vision!_

Quickly I returned my gaze to the seated men, whichever was watching that young mom _must_ be the man from my vision. However, to my dismay, both the Latino and the African-American glanced over, even as the redheaded man remained immersed in his phone. Great, I still have two candidates. After a few more futile attempts at picking out which one was Epps, they both rose and exited Starbucks, taking my hope with them.

I ducked my head into my arms with a small groan, ignoring the tiny brunette sitting near me as she gave me an odd look behind thin glasses.

_Now what?_

Abrupt I stood up and gathered my bags, following the two's example and trudging my way out of Starbucks, my hope demolished. Slowly I milled about the mall, not really heading anywhere specific since my soldier (if one of them was him) was absent from my sight. After wandering about for a bit, I plopped down on a wooden bench near an indoor fountain and pulled out a drawing pad and pencil, beginning to sketch. As I allowed the water to pour out over my paper, I slowly began to fill in the background. A pudgy, laughing woman took shape on the fountains edge. Various store titles began to spread out along the walls. A small corridor titled security appeared in the very corner of my paper.

Wait, security. I felt a small snarl of hope begin to allow a horrible, awful idea take root in my brain.

_No , no, no. I couldn't._

But despite my denial, I began to rise off the bench, stuffing my drawing pad back into my bag. I began to make my way around the fountain, dodging little kids who were squealing with delight at the water and also passing their worn mothers as I approached the security's hall. With an agitated look around, I noticed that no one was paying me any attention and that no security was around.

_Well crap._

I sealed my fate as I swiftly entered the small hallway; there's no going back once I start something. I ran as quietly as I could down the empty hallway, turning down the first branch I met. The hallway was painted a dull blue and barren of any decoration. As I continued down it I came across a single dark blue metal door, bearing the label "AUTHORIZED ACCESS ONLY." I cringed as I realized I was going to be breaking the law for the second time in less than a week. Why oh why do I ignore these commonly understood warnings?

Despite the misgivings, I turned the handle, quite surprised to find the door unlocked. I allowed it to slowly creak open, peering into the room slowly. The interior was filled with a variety of monitors all bearing videos of different areas of the mall and a large row of buttons directly underneath the monitors. And on this row of buttons was exactly what I needed, a microphone.

Unfortunately for me, directly in front of said microphone was a snoring mammoth of a man. The unconscious security guard was large, at least a foot taller than me, and had thick layers of muscle that screamed intimidation, in fact his whole atmosphere seemed to ooze a primal threat. I had the eerie feeling that it would take him less than a second to break my spine.

That was the precise moment that I almost backed out, but something in me stopped my body before I could pull my head back around the door. Maybe it was a slight tinge of insanity or maybe it was a whole lot of stubborn, but either way a slowly crept into the room, my gray flats scuffing on the floor being the only sound other than the guard's snoring. With weird, dream-like quality, I thought detachedly that it was akin to the princess trying to pass the dragon.

I quickly skirted around the hulking man before I reached the microphone, gripping it so hard in nervousness that my knuckles turned bone-white. There was a small red button beneath the microphone, so I pushed it as I cleared my throat, releasing a small _beep _that caused the snores behind me to halt.

"Epps! Please hurry to the security hall-" I was cut off as a meaty hand forcefully pulled me away from the microphone, an embarrassing squeak tumbling from my lips.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" A rough growl filled the room as the guard pulled me towards him, his penetrating dark brown eyes glaring into my own.

"I-I, um-" I was close enough to him to see the individual pores of his face, and I felt my throat begin to close up with fear as he shook me slightly.

"Well?!" I felt my eyes scrunch shut as a wave of his warm breath flew into my face, smelling of mint.

"Hey! Jim! What the hell is going on?!" My eyes flew open and I sharply turned my head as two more security guards burst into the room.

One was a slightly pudgy man with I thick mustache-beard combo and a nametag proclaiming Stephen who was now panting and sweaty and the other was a tall woman with thick brunette hair and a nose piercing,. She was giving me a sharp look that held no sympathy, and as I looked I noticed her nametag read Lilith.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." I turned my attention once more to Jim and winced back at his scathing glare.

"Wait-_huff-_who is_-huff_-that girl?" Stephen was gasping in-between his words, gazing at me with a not unkind look.

"She's getting kicked out, that's who she is." Lilith's voice was like ice, and I fought back a shiver.

There was no arguments as Jim roughly dragged me back out the way I had let myself in, Lilith remaining behind while Stephen trailed behind us. I felt a my face burning in shame, and wondered what had possessed me to do that. As we emerged from the small hall back to the fountain, I felt my blush increase at the blatant stares we were receiving, and as I glanced over I noticed the same brunette girl from the coffee shop shaking her head.

"Wait! Hey!" Jim paused slightly at the voice, but his grip on my shirt never loosened.

I glanced back to see the African-American man lightly jogging to catch up to us just as we reached the doors of the mall. He wasn't looking at me however, his attention focused on Jim. But contrary to his gaze, as soon as he caught up with us he encircled my shoulders with him strong arm, ignoring my shocked gasp.

"Sorry about her, I'm Robert Epps. Sometimes she just gets so carried away, what were you thinking?!" By the end of his little speech, Epps was glaring down at me.

"She's yours?" I bristled slightly at the tone Jim took, but wisely kept my mouth shut. I'd already created a big enough mess for myself.

"Yeah she's my sister." Epps said this so casually, but I felt myself twitch with that statement, eyeing him with an incredulous stare, and apparently Jim felt the same.

"Sister?" Jim's dark gaze slowly went from my deathly pale tone to Epps' dark skin.

"Haven't you heard of adoption?" Epps' tone never faltered, even taking on an exasperated edge at the man.

I could sense an argument coming on, but it was cut short by Stephen. Despite his harmless stature, his tone was firm and left no room for argument.

"Well, looks like the situation is handled. This is the only warning you'll receive young lady, so watch yourself. Let's go Jim." Stephen winked at me and began to stroll away, simply expecting Jim to follow, which he did to my surprise.

"Keep her on a leash." These words were spat from the giants mouth as he departed, glaring at me as though I belonged on the bottom of a shoe.

I shuddered at the big man's stare, feeling a shiver cross through my frame. I was jerked out of my little moment as Epps twisted me to face him.

"You have some explaining to do."

-.-.-.-.-.-

I glanced up through my eyelashes at the man's blank stare, feeling my heart sink as all expression closed off and walls of apathy rose. I fidgeted in the seat of his truck, where I'd insisted we go so we could talk in private, and tugged at some imaginary lint on my shirt.

"How do you know all that? That's very classified information." His voice was official and brusque, a soldier in every manner.

After I'd convinced the man to talk to me, I'd spilled everything. Well, almost everything. I told him that I knew that he was a soldier, that I knew of these Autobots, even describing the Mission City battle, and that I wanted to aid them. However, I'd omitted the part where I got that knowledge from visions after seeing the shell-shocked look on his strong face, which quickly morphed into a professional coldness.

"Well… You see… That's the tricky part." I turned my gaze out of the window, refusing to look at the man in the eyes.

"I suggest you tell me, or else this could all get real ugly." I stiffened at the implications of that and took a deep breath.

_They have to find out sometime._

"Okay, don't freak out. I found out because I'm psychic." There was a thick moment of silence where Epps stared at me with a blank gaze.

Slowly he turned his unwavering stare away from me and stared straight through the steering wheel.

"It's official, you're crazy. I let a crazy person into my truck." I flinched at the commonly used word.

"No! No I swear! I-I'll prove it!" The words tumbled out of my mouth in a surge of desperation.

As he continued to shake his head in a slow, disbelieving motion, I reached forward in a motion fueled by my distress. I grasped onto his arm with a shaking, weak grip, and before he could jerk away, I grasped onto a misty tendril of power.

Slowly my eyes unfocused, unable to continue to gaze at Epps, and I began to shudder and tremble as though I was caught in a frigid wind. I was gasping and I felt my stomach begin to flip flop in it's place before I was tugged into the past…

"_Wha' the hell do ya' think you're doin?!" I flinched as an all too to familiar slur reached my ears, turning fear-filled eyes to the tall, lean muscled man stumbling his way over to my crouched form._

"_I-I'm sorry Daddy. I didn't mean to." I backed up slowly in a crawl, ignoring the bits of offending glass cutting into my shins and palms. Worse would come._

"_You broke it!" The slur was absent from his voice as anger took over my father's brain, the familiar deadly spark burning in his gaze. _

_I felt whimpers slip from my lips and I quickly scrambled to run, but my dad was too fast even in his inebriated state. He's always too fast. The whimpers turned into screams as my father began to violently shake me until my teeth rattled into my skull. My screams were halted, however, as I received a backhand across the face._

"_Shut up! Shut up! You'll wake your mom up!" By now I was sobbing in the face of his anger, tears streaming down my face as the taste of blood welled up in my mouth._

"_Daddy please!"_

I surfaced with a gasp, my eyes blinking rapidly as they tried to focus. I recoiled back from Epps' arm, fumbling with the door handle of his truck, my sweaty fingers unable to grip it. As soon as I managed to get it open, I lurched out into the cheery parking lot, leaning on my knees as I attempted not to vomit. I took shuddering, rapid breaths, tears slipping down my own face as images of an infuriated face swam behind my eyelids every time they slipped shut.

A hand landed on my shoulder, the light grasp causing me to collapse onto the ground.

"Holy _shit_, are you okay?!" Epps' voice was slightly shaking itself.

As soon as I heard the slight quaver, I forced myself up despite the trembles, grabbing a very shocked Epps in a very sweaty hug.

"Your dad… He-" Epps cut me off by slowly, uncertainly returning my light grip.

"How do you know that? How could you-" He cut himself off, his voice soft and slowly fading.

"I told you, it's my visions. I saw it. I saw the broken plate, I saw the fury in your father's eyes, I felt the raw fear in your heart." I allowed the stolen memory to fill my voice.

Epps pulled back from the hug to gaze into my misty eyes, staring long and hard for a long time. I don't know what he saw there, but when he spoke next his voice was solid but still unsteady.

"Get in the truck." His face was closed off.

"Wha-" He cut me off, his tone firm.

"Get. In. The truck." I gulped, noting a vein pulsing in his forehead, but did so, buckling myself in for extra measure with shaking hands.

_Is this what it feels like to get kidnapped?_

"We're going to have to dig through a lot of layers of shit, but I think we can do it." I felt a wave of excitement rush over me, but I also began to wonder how smart it was to join this soldier.

Oh well, I'll just see how this plays out.

* * *

**A/N: Hello there! I just popped in to say thanks for reading and please review! I hope you enjoy this chapter, because up next are the... AUTOBOTS! Heck yeah!**

**Word Count: 4,085**


	4. A Hidden Secret

I slowly shifted in the confined space, my tensed muscled screaming at me for being coiled for so long. As I was shifting I attempted to make as little noise as possible due to the muffled voices seeping in from the outside of my box, the deep rumble of someone's laughter reaching my ears. I grimaced in the dark, unable to see any of the small crate that had been my home for the past half hour.

_That jerk… He put me in here way before I needed to be!_

After leaving the mall with Epps on a rather awkwardly silent ride, we'd only driven for a few hours before he'd pulled over to the side of the road near a big, gaping field of yellow grass.

"_Okay, I've thought about it. I'm going to help you, but the first glimpse I catch of you stepping out of place, it's over. I will turn you in and you won't like where that leads." Epps' voice was hard, completely filled with military steel._

_I swallowed harshly, my mouth dry and my throat scratchy, as I looked into his severe brown eyes._

"_O-okay." Epps nodded slowly, still laying me bare with his eyes but somehow seeming to relax slightly now that his final decision was verbalized._

"_Right. So I need you to get in the back of the truck." I blinked once, twice, my brain not completely registering what he said._

"_What?" Epps rolled his eyes, startling me with the casualness, before gesturing to the rear of his truck._

"_There's no way you're getting past security just on my word. If they see me drive up with you like this, we'll both be in trouble. My plan is to sneak you in to meet one of the bots. If you can convince them that you're trustworthy, then I don't think anyone can really oppose them. They can give them some shit about it, but we need those guys." Although somewhere inside I was questioning his ability to sneak me into a high security base, on the outside I merely nodded, stepping out of the truck and into the arid heat of outside._

_I walked around the heated silver of his truck to the cab, my cool hands being pleasantly warmed by the metal of his truck as I pulled myself up. I clambered in, nearly falling over the side over one of the many boxes in the back, and tentatively sat down among them._

"_No, you can't just sit there either." I felt myself flush at the obvious statement. "Get in the crate here; it was for my guns, but I left them back at the base."_

_I glanced at the latched crate, not completely sure I would fit. But since I didn't have many other options at this point, I unlatched the thing, only able to open it halfway after several tries, before jerkily half falling and half sliding in. The tips of my ears began to burn as Epps' booming laughter, the kind that pulled you in and made you smile despite yourself, began to ring out at my expense. _

"_Good thing you're not out to help us in a fight! You're clumsy." Epps gave a broad, catlike grin that made his eyes crinkle, before climbing much more gracefully into the cab of his truck and enclosing me in my little tomb._

_Maybe this is what friendship is like._

And that's how I ended up cramping and sore in an airplane. Friendship is painful. And yeah, he drove his truck straight onto what seemed like a giant aircraft, and luckily we haven't had any trouble so far. Not only was I questioning how pleasant friendship truly was, but I was also losing faith in our country's security.

Unable to focus on anything else in my complete darkness, I allowed my ears to tune into the voices filtering in from the outside.

"Welcome back man!" This voice was strong, probably the source of the deep laughter I'd heard earlier, and held a light German accent.

"Hey Graham. Good to be back." Epps spoke up with lethargic cheer.

"Why'd you cut your leave short anyways?" Graham's voice was innocently questioning, causing me to feel a spike of apprehension cut through my chest, but Epps allowed a lie to flow smoothly from his lips.

"Well, can vacation really compare with handling giant robots all day?" Graham let loose a deep chuckle at this, allowing me to relax as much as I could while balled up.

"I guess you're right, it'd be kind of boring without those guys." Graham's voice was relaxed, and instinctively I started to relax to it.

Unfortunately for me, as I relaxed my legs slipped from where they were pressed on the edge of my little space, colliding with the adjacent side with a soft thump. I immediately froze, feeling the flight instinct kick in, but I had nowhere to flee to.

"What was that?" I could practically feel his penetrating gaze digging into me through the plastic walls of my crate.

"Who knows, something fell amongst all the junk I have back there." Epps managed to fabricate an excuse, but I could hear a new edge in his voice.

"What _do _you have in there anyways?" I heard the slight scuff of heavy footfalls approaching the truck.

As the footsteps got closer, I felt a stirring in the pit of my stomach and light sheen of sweat began to gather on my brow.

_No! Not now!_

It seemed that with every thump of Graham's feet, a parallel pulse went throughout my head, and slowly felt my stomach whirling into a sickening knot on waves of power. My breathing shortened, and I was barely able to keep it silent, and even then I had to endure the tightening of my chest in response. The darkness that had dominated my vision for so long slowly blended into a foggy gray as the power clouded my smoky eyes.

Just as the footsteps reached me, I felt the tendrils of hazy power in my mind pull taut into cords that tugged me to the distant expanse of the future…

_Adrenaline coursed through my veins like an icy torrent of awareness, and in my panic I wasn't able to slow my approach towards a filing cabinet fast enough. I slammed into it with a grunt of pain, but I barely paused as I unlocked the top drawer with shaking hands, cursing when I dropped the small metal key. I yanked the drawer open, sweat dripping down my face in bullets, and began to riffle through the files up there with barely enough time to glance over the labels. As I came up the twenty first file, I tore it out, not even bothering to close the drawer in my haste for escape. _

_I turned back to the dark hallway through which I entered, already beginning to run towards it, only to spy a slim figure standing in the doorway. A pistol was held in quivering hands, and I froze up, my mind rocketing into overdrive at the sight._

I reentered myself with a choked gasp, my stomach lurching up into my throat. I grimaced, attempting to push down the threat of vomit while remaining quiet. There was a scorching pain in my head centered around the base of my skull, and it took all of the will I had in my body to remain still and silent as tears of agony rolled down my face, mixing with the sweat already there.

Despite my efforts, I heard the first latch on my case being unlocked, and I got ready for my cover to be blown.

"Everyone prepare for landing. I repeat, everyone prepare for landing." A dull, mechanical monotone dominated the bustling sound of the aircraft.

"Oh crap! I have to go strap down equipment before we land!" Through the ringing in my ears I heard Graham running away, calling out a hasty goodbye to Epps.

As though the universe was intent on making me throw up, we hit turbulence on the way down. While everyone else was strapped into seats, I was being tossed around the back of Epps' truck. After one particularly hard jolt, my temple was slammed into the side of my crate with a sharp crack, sending a burst of pain throughout my skull and forcing me to bite back a yelp.

After what felt like ages of being tossed around like a rag doll, one final jerk shoved me violently to one side of my confines before the plane evened out over land. I gave a sharp gust of relief, but grimaced as my delicate stomach twisted. I began praying to whatever entity was out there that I wouldn't throw up in such a small space.

As soon as the motion of the plane stopped, the place started humming with the sounds of several footsteps unloading things and bustling around. I heard the door slam on the front of the car before it started and we lurched back into motion, albeit much steadier, smoother motion than before. I felt myself slowly start to block out the pain from my brief, confusing vision as the car accelerated, my sweaty form cooling from the air coming in the gaps in my case. As soon as we'd started driving, the truck slowed, making several turns through paths bursting with different voices, some shouting with stern command, some laughing and joking, and some tired and weary, before passing through an entrance to a place filled with silence and stopping altogether.

I heard the door slam to the truck one more time before the lid of my crate was thrown open, light flooding through my wide eyes and blinding me. I was forced to squint, half crawling from the box as my muscles screamed at me for keeping them cramped for so long. I paused with my legs still in the box, closing my eyes and allowing my black curls to fall around my face as I took deep breaths, my stomach lurching once more over the new motion.

"Jesus, are you okay?" I glanced up through my eyelashes to see a concerned, uncomfortable look on Epps' face.

"Yeah." My voice seemed to contradict my words, the whisper cracking.

I sluggishly pulled the rest of myself out of that horrible space, cautiously settling on the edge of Epps' truck as I took in the huge room we now occupied. It was tall, I had to crane my head back to look at the ceiling, and had several large slabs of metal resembling worktables, shelves, and desks, each filled with a variety of wired equipment and machine parts, and all far bigger than anything I could lift. On one of the tables my eyes were drawn to a variety of delicate looking tools, and on the floor there also appeared to be more person-sized tables and chairs. The room, however, was bare of any sentient beings excluding Epps and myself.

"This is Ratchet's medical bay. He's the one who makes all the repairs on the bots after battle." Epps' voice was filled with a deep respect, and I felt myself already respecting this man-er, robot, already. "If I had my choice of things, you'd be meeting Optimus, their leader, first, but he's always busy with NEST personnel. Most of the others are out and about the base with other people too, so it'd be hard to get them alone. But Ratchet… Well, almost no one comes in here for fear of his wrath."

I turned my wide gaze back to Epps, my respect morphing into apprehension over a giant robot that apparently scared people enough to avoid him.

"And I'm meeting him first?" My rough tone was a mixture of nervousness and incredulity.

"Hey, it's the best shot you have. Now stay here and _don't move_." Epps hopped over the side of his truck, heading towards a human-sized door.

"Wait, where are you going?" I was balking at the idea of being left here alone.

"To find Ratchet. Don't worry, no one comes in here except for him and the other bots, and even they avoid that." I grimaced, his casually tossed words not reassuring me in the slightest.

But I was too late, Epps had already exited the room, the door closing behind him with a soft click.

_Great._

I slowly stood on the rear of the truck, tentatively stretching out my muscles in an attempt to stop their soreness and to relieve the restlessness I was feeling after being cooped up for at least an hour. It didn't work, so I settled for tumbling out of the cab and pacing back and forth on the cold cement floor, suddenly getting a chill.

With no immediate distraction, my mind was pulled back to the vision I had earlier. I had been someone, someone I have no idea of, and I had been terrified. I don't know what of, but there had been a great expanse of fear in my mind, fear of so malevolent force that was threatening my very core. And that figure, with the gun... My visions had never made much sense, but this one... It was so clear, but it was only a fragment of some bigger scene, something I didn't yet understand.

I gave a small huff of frustration, pacing away from the truck and pausing to tug at on of my curls, a small crease forming in my brow as I mulled over the ambiguous vision. Quickly growing frustrated, I plopped down on the frigid floor to file that scene away for later thought and instead resumed waiting for Epps.

I felt the steps before I actually heard them, a slight tremble in the ground that built into a strong thud as the footsteps approached, and quickly. I froze, my gaze locked on the giant door of the room as it swung open with a giant swoosh, a gust of wind hitting me in the face and causing me to blink. And in stormed a metal giant, grumbling and muttering in all of his yellow glory. Despite the metallic nature of his face, it was pulled down into an obvious scowl, sending chills down my spine and causing me to cower next to the truck.

"Those slagging twins… One more fragging prank…" Only half of his words were anything I could comprehend, the rest were furious combinations of clicks and whirs.

For a moment I seriously thought that he wouldn't notice me in his cloud of rage, but inevitably his glowing blue eyes were drawn to Epps truck. From there they moved to my shivering frame, his scowling face causing my heart to drop as his gaze locked with mine, a moment of silence ensuing.

_Epps, where are you?!_

"Who are you?" His voice was no kinder than it had been when he was grumbling earlier, and it faintly reminded me of a grouchy grandpa.

Only this grouchy grandpa could squish me just by stepping wrong, and he was fast approaching me.

"I-I-" I was stuttering as my mouth locked up when he bent his face to mine, his glowing blue eyes shrouding my form in a soft glow.

"You have trauma to the right lateral side of your head above the zygomatic arch." Ratchet noted all of this with a cool professionalism, his gaze never leaving mine even as I rose and stumbled back from him, bumping into the side of Epps' truck.

"Wh-what?" I slowly reached up to my head, hissing as my fingers brushed over my bruised temple from when I hit the side of my crate.

_Does he mean this?_

"Ratchet!" I barely noticed Epps reentering the room; I was so caught up in Ratchet's eyes.

They were questioning, they were grumpy, but they weren't as hostile as I first assumed and held a strong vein of wisdom. He slowly leaned back from my face, his gaze shifting to pay his attention to Epps, but my eyes remained locked on him, enraptured by the visible gears working under his metal facial plates and the whirs and cranks as he shifted.

He was _amazing_.

"Ratchet, this is Alithia."

* * *

**A/N: Hi all! Sorry for the late update and the shortness, but I've been a busy bee. Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter and are pleased with the first Autobot intro! From here it's really gonna pick up! In fact, I already know how it's going to end, I just have to actually write it out... I hope you enjoyed! Please review! Love you all, bye!**

**Word Count: 2,751**


	5. The Moment of Truth

"And that's how we got here." Epps finished a carefully edited, non-psychic version of my story slowly, the words tapering off into a charged silence as Ratchet focused his deep blue eyes on my face.

Ratchet, while I could see the wisdom in his eyes, scared me beyond belief. As Epps told the nice, cookie-cutter version of my story, I had studied the variety of expressions that crossed his battle-scarred face, each scar telling me the strength this giant possessed. His expressions flickered through several emotions, as though someone was channel surfing through his feelings, none of them precisely pleasant. I briefly wondered about how volatile the other bots must be if their healer was as fierce as his expressions read. Now, as Epps ended his speech, I felt that healthy caution I held for him escalate as a glower rose to Ratchet's features, causing me to shrink into myself.

"Do you realize how irresponsible it was for you to bring her here? Not only will you be in trouble, but now you've gotten this young one wrapped up in our war! Optimus will not be pleased about this." Ratchet was the one not pleased, words coming from his mouth with a mechanical growl as his metal face turned into a surprisingly human expression of annoyance. "Not only that, but unless she has had any military training then she will immediately be detained and removed by your government!"

I felt my heart throb with anxiety, knowing instinctively that this was my moment to speak up as I shared a quick side glance with Epps' dark gaze. I cleared my throat softly, having to do so a couple of times as it tightened when Ratchet focused his thundering scowl on me, pinning me to the spot I stood in. I kept my eyes focused firmly on the ground, trying to ignore the nervous fluttering of my stomach, before I spoke up in a wavering voice.

"Epps didn't get me involved in this. I came to find him, trying to get here. I-I want to help your cause." The words hung for a moment in the static air of Ratchet's medical bay, the only other sound I could hear being my pulsing heartbeat.

"Then how did you know of us? And how can you help us?" Now his robotic voice was cautious, years of forced wariness causing him to pause.

I gulped slowly, looking to Epps for support, but he was conveniently examining the cracks on the cement floor. I took a moment, feeling panic and the old, strong desire to refuse the very part of myself I had come here to reveal causing my jaw to lock shut. My breathing shortened and I felt slightly dizzy. After years of trying to hide every bit of myself from others, hating the disgust inducing difference that ostracized me from them, it was so hard to showcase the shameful part of me to anyone. It didn't matter that these were the people that had managed to accept giant aliens, it had been so ingrained into me that I was a freak that it still felt wrong to attempt to get any form of acceptance. So before I had time to panic and block out everything like I had always done, I acted.

"I'm psychic." The words came out strangled, my throat constricting them like a snake coiling around a mouse, but at least they were out.

Ratchet leaned back, a low hiss of air exiting his mouth, a look of surprise overcoming his face. Whatever he had expected of me, that had not been it. He looked to Epps for some sort of confirmation, but he looked torn between emotion and logic as both sides of his brain grappled with his own decision of acceptance of my ability. Eventually the conflict retreated from his expression, and he spoke up with a stoic look on his face that was betrayed by the indecisive tone he took.

"I don't know Ratchet, about all of that; I don't know what I believe. All I know is that she came to me knowing about you all already and claiming she wanted to help us, and that something… Somehow she knew things, things that she shouldn't have. So no matter what, we should at least find out how she knew those things." Epps was steady by the end of his words, and my stomach was twisting into knots at the way he avoided my eyes and displayed his doubt so clearly, with no hesitation and the clear ring of truth.

But what can I expect? Despite me knowing of him, he knew nothing of me, and I came to him with an unbelievable story that would make anyone doubtful.

Ratchet nodded slowly and sighed in another startlingly human gesture that caused his whole frame to rattle. Suddenly his expression sharpened into a look of concentration, his blue optics dimming slightly. Epps and I both remained silent, his from understanding and mine from both fear and confusion. This lasted for about a minute before Ratchet tuned back into us, gazing at me with searching eyes before turning to his work and tinkering with one of the various metal contraptions on his shelves.

"I've commed the others. They'll be here shortly." Epps nodded, an accepting look on his face, and I grimaced and flinched, not excited to have to deal with others questioning every detail of my life and my story. "Oh, and Will is coming. He was with Ironhide." Now it was Epps' turn to flinch, and I faintly recalled seeing someone named Will through Epps' eyes when I first had visions of him; the name brought a foreign feeling of camaraderie and warmth that I knew stemmed from Epps feelings and not my own, leftover from my vision.

"Crap… I'm in deep shit." Epps groaned, rubbing at his temples, and I felt bad for getting him into this mess.

However, that feeling didn't last long as Autbots began to filter into Ratchet's domain.

They came in small, sporadic clusters, each arrival placing me more and more in awe, my fright momentarily pushed aside. Gleaming metals of red, yellow, and silver winked and shimmered past my wide eyes. Great giants, larger than Ratchet, strode into the room on long legs while right beside them danced in small bots that were sleek and clearly meant for speed. Some even rolled in, wheels taking the place of feet, and displayed a grace I'd never expected from a machine. They were all so unique, a few female robots even rolling in. The room slowly filled, bots either murmuring to each other in clicks and whirs, obviously to keep me out of the loop, or simply examining me straight on. This made me nervous; I instinctively wanted to hide behind Epps, but he was talking to a pair of goofy looking Autobots that appeared to be twins, one red and one green. They were waving their arms excitedly and glancing at me, and I felt slightly thankful that Epps was distracting them from me. So I simply remained nervously by his truck, taking some comfort from the fact that at least one machine in here wasn't judging me.

That was when the final cluster rolled in. There was a dark grey bot, not as tall as the others but much bulkier, and if he had been a human he would have had huge, rippling muscles. There was a scar across one of his eyes along with several others spread throughout his frame, and everything about him screamed warrior. A name flitted through my mind. _Ironhide_. Walking alongside him was the only human who'd come, and I recognized the handsome but stern face as William Lennox. Then, directly on their tail, strode in the largest Autobot by far. I gasped at the sight of him, recognizing him as the righteous red and blue flamed robot from my first vision. He met my gaze at the sound of my gasp, and I felt myself waver on the edge of idolatry as I recalled how he had fought so valiantly to stop the dark _monster_ that had caused so much destruction in Mission City and witnessed firsthand the absolute sagacity held in his electric blue eyes.

I was drawn out of my reverence by the frustrated voice of Lennox, who was striding over to Epps.

"What's going on here Sergeant Epps?" He was angry, veins on his neck standing out while he snapped at him. "Why did you bring a civilian into NEST?"

With that comment, it began. Voices all rang out at once, each bot appealing to Optimus or trying to get their opinion into the air. It was civil, but barely so as conflicting opinions on the situation rang out. I cringed as I realized that the idea that my story was true was quickly dismissed and new theories came out. The one I recognized as Ironhide didn't waste time with any of that, he simply approached me directly. A new kind of whir I'd never heard before filled the air, and his arm began to click and twist as it formed a cylinder with glowing blue at the end, pointing directly into my face. Terror struck me as I realized it was a cannon.

"So this is the human who claims to be a clairvoyant?" Ironhide shoved his cannon closer to me while glaring down at me with intense blue eyes, causing me to skitter backwards into Epps' truck, my hands raising to my palpitating heart as his gruff voice rumbled out. "She looks more like a spy to me, or a liar."

"Oh please, she doesn't look like she could lie to save her life. Don't be so rash Hide." A feminine voice that chimed like bells spoke up from behind Ironhide, and I glanced away from the cannon's angry blue eye for a moment to spot a pink, one-legged bot peering at me with curious from over Ironhide's shoulder.

"We can't be sure Arcee." This time the feminine edge was harder, coming from a blue female that eyed me with a sharp look of distrust.

"Ironhide, stand down!" The deep command rose from Optimus himself, and as Ironhide grudgingly lowered his cannons I found it much easier to focus on the surrounding voices.

"She can't be a psychic, that is impossible." A robot with police markings spoke up, appearing as though he was trying to reassure himself.

"It may be, but did you see the look on her face when she caught sight of Optimus?" Arcee piped up again, and I almost felt grateful for her words.

"She definitely recognized him." Ratchet was still focusing on his work, but he glanced over at me once as he made his statement.

"Perhaps the squishy studied with Decepticons." This came from somewhere I couldn't quite see, and I felt my stomach clench at the words. Like I would help those things.

My head was whirling from all the commotion, bots heatedly discussing whether or not I was trustworthy, and it was only worsened as the two red and green bots dove into the gap Ironhide left as he retreated and recaptured my attention. It seemed as though right when I could recover from one assault something else was demanding my attention, making my brain lurch.

"Yo, look at 'er Skids!" The red one spoke up excitedly, waving his hands in front of my face with complete animation. "She a psychic!"

"Mudflap, don' you know nothing? She's a fake!" Skids spoke up in a condescending tone.

"Hey, I don' think dat she's lying!" At any other time, I might have been amused at the brothers, but right now their arguing made me feel even worse than before.

I stumbled away from them as their argument escalated and very suddenly broke out into a fight, beginning to recognize the churning in my head for what it was going to be. A cold sweat broke out in my face, and I had the sickening sensation of falling into myself.

_No, not twice in one day!_

I stumbled blindly, the driving forced to my motion being the strong distaste I felt toward the idea of having the Autobots see me hurl. I moved around the edge of the little ring the bots had formed, intent on not being seen. However, as soon as I stumbled straight into a bright yellow leg, it was all over.

"That squishy got its oils on my paint job." The statement was like stabs of ice, each filled with utter disgust.

I barely managed to glance up at a yellow face twisted in abhorrence before I groaned aloud as the wave of power hit my senses, causing me to drop to my knees and grasp at the ground. I was curled in the midst of the bots, and I barely realized the ensuing silence, minus the twin terrors, as I was caught in a struggle against tears. Despite my efforts, my view was slowly fogged by both tears and mist, and a wispy tendril of power suddenly turned into and iron chain, dragging me into the past…

_It was silent, but everything was rocking, explosions of battle shaking the view. It was though someone had hit the mute button while the streets of Mission City were locked in the middle of an otherworldly war. Buildings were crumbling to the ground, and the streets were being shredded to pieces But all of this was insignificant to me, my ghostly, bodiless entity passing straight through the destruction and to the scene taking place before me. I faintly recognized the crater before me from somewhere, but in this foggy scene it hurt to try to remember things. It hurt to think at all really, so I just watched. I merely stood as a silent witness as the boy ended the battle between two brothers with a glowing blue cube. I just drifted there as the prize so sought over by two ancient races was destroyed, nothing left. And I merely gazed as the good brother, although here the difference between good and bad didn't seem so real (although nothing did), found out that there was something left, taking the final piece of the cube…_

I surfaced slowly this time, the befuddlement I had felt from that vision particularly strong. It left me sweating and gasping with a raging migraine, one of my more confusing visions in a long while. My hair was floating around my face in a messy curtain of curls, and most of it was plastered to my sticky form. Although I had spent a few moments in that scene, it appeared as though not even a full minute had passed in reality, and I tilted my face back up to see the same disgusted yellow stare, only it was accompanied with reluctant interest now. I slowly rose, silence still engulfing the medical bay, shaking in my stance as I attempted to calm the swishing of my poor stomach, which really took far too much abuse. Of course that's when they chose to make it confusing again, surprised voices ringing out.

Ratchet was over to me in an instant, a slight scanning noise coming from him.

"Do you have a history of seizures? How does your head feel? Any nausea? I've never seen anything like that." He bent down scanning my whole form and checking me over much like a doctor.

"Disgusting." The word was a hiss, and I felt myself cringe at the yellow bot's word.

"Sunstreaker." Ratchet simply commanded his silence with his name, never taking his eyes off of me as a small beam of light turned on from his head and shone into my eyes.

I shut my gray orbs against the brightness, the pain in my head spiking as the room once more was locked in confusing whirls of sound. I stumbled slightly to the side to get away from the headache-inducing light, closer to the yellow robot, and wrapped my arms around my heaving stomach. I stared blankly at the gleaming yellow paint of his leg, attempting to push down the rising bile as a silver leg winked at me from behind the yellow.

"Um, Sunny, you might want to mo-"

I couldn't help it. I really tried not to vomit, but it was too late and all of the surrounding noise just made it so much harder. The beautiful yellow of this Sunstreaker's leg was now covered with puke. As soon as I threw up, everyone in the room went silent, and I glanced around at the gaping metal faces, feeling tears of shame well in my eyes despite also feeling proud that out of everyone's legs to puke on, I'd puked on the leg of the one who was being a jerk to me.

_Don't cry, don't cry._

However, the first reaction was not one I'd been expecting.

Ironhide burst out into laughter.

"Haha! Never mind! I like this human! Haha!" Ironhide was nearly crippled with his thunderous laughter, and a few other snickers were slowly rising.

Sunstreaker, however, was not amused.

"My paint! My paint!" He was practically screeching with rage, and I flinched, tripping backwards as he rose his leg in preparation to step on me, the wheeled end whirring with speed. "You threw up on my _paint_! That's _disgusting_!"

"Enough! Sunstreaker! Enough!"

Everyone froze at the firm command except for Ironhide, who was still chuckling. Sunstreaker glared at me with his leg still raised before lowering it (a little _too _close to my head, if you ask me) and rolling out of the room, leaving a clear trail of fury and muttered words. The silver robot who had been behind him, and who I now recognized as his twin, stayed, eyeing me with an amused and curious stare. I looked away, refusing to meet that gaze when I was so completely humiliated.

It was then that Optimus finally approached me, the crowd of Autobots easily parting for their leader. He stopped as soon as he was directly before me, even Ratchet moving for his Prime, and crouched to my level, gazing earnestly into my eyes.

"What did you see?" His voice was gentle, and I felt myself relaxing at the fatherly voice. I could easily see how this bot became a leader.

However, despite the comfort I felt from him, I grew nervous once more as I glanced at the expectant or suspicious faces surrounding him.

"Don't be afraid." My eyes darted back to his large face, and I slowly nodded, pushing down my fears.

I closed my eyes as I tried to remember the vision, a headache still pulsing, but found trouble with the evanescent memories. It was one of my very unclear visions, and nothing was concrete for me.

"I was… I saw you. You were fighting, or maybe this kid was fighting. But… There was your brother, he is your brother right? That Decepticon?" I didn't open my eyes or pause for his response, lost in my vision. "He was killed by a cube. But the cube, I think it was made for life, but that boy put it to his chest and it killed him. I thought it killed the cube too, but… There's a piece left, isn't there?"

Now my eyes opened, and I heard several gasps around me as Optimus nodded his great head before rising to his full, noble height.

"Optimus, what does she mean there's a piece left?" Ironhide's earlier amusement was gone, and he was dead serious, his expression mimicking many others in the room.

Prime sighed, and I jolted with the realization that I'd given away a secret.

"We will have time for that. But for now, Alithia." I looked up at him, not flinching from his blue stare. "I believe you. And if you wish to help us, I would be honored to accept."

For the first time since I came here, an old feeling rose in my chest. Happiness. So I smiled, meeting the earnest eyes before me.

* * *

**A/N: Heyyyyy. Sorry I didn't update last week, I got some bad news so I really just couldn't focus. But here's Chapter five! IT's the second longest one so far, and you got to meet the Autobots, so I hope it makes you happy! Please review! I feel like a beggar always saying that...**

**P.S.: Am I the only one who laughs at the thought of someone puking on Sunny's precious paint? ;)**

**Word Count: 3,314**


	6. Pancakes and Pink

I groaned, flopping down onto my small, military issue cot and finally removing the two bags that had been situated on my aching shoulders for what felt like centuries, allowing them to slip to the floor. I could've easily fallen asleep right then and there, but the girl in me felt the need to remove the sweat from my body because I knew that I wouldn't have the will tomorrow morning to go through the motions. So I reluctantly rolled into a sitting position, absently combing my fingers through my tangled black curls, and trudged over to the cramped, white-tile bathroom after grabbing a pair of pajamas. I glanced into the small mirror with hooded eyes, grimacing at my ragged appearance. My curls were a tangled mass upon my head, and my earlier vision had left me with bloodshot eyes and a sickly green complexion. Not to mention the thin layer of dirt and sweat covering my body; it was no wonder Sunstreaker had thought I was disgusting.

I twisted away from my reflection, my migraine flaring at the sharp motion, and turned the shower to the highest level of heat. I quickly stripped and stepped in, flicking on the small fan as steam began to pour out from behind the white shower curtain. I hissed at the contact of hot water with my battered and still cut up body, but forced myself to remain still as I adjusted. Slowly the warmth seeped into my muscles and I relaxed, allowing the water to fog my head and wash away the stress of everything. Reaching for a bottle of shampoo, I allowed my mind to drift over my new situation as I mechanically carried out the process of washing.

It was decided, after much more debating that I had tuned out due to exhaustion, that if I was going to stay then it would not be wise to tell everyone my true purpose here. There was unanimous agreement that not many of the humans on base would take very kindly to the idea of a civilian being here because she claimed to be a psychic, so instead I had to have some other sort of purpose as a cover up. There were no other civilians on base, so it was a tricky process of picking a legitimate-sounding reason for me to be here. However, it turned out that the soldier who doubled as a cook had just been promoted out of this place, and the timing was just so perfect that it could easily be assumed that I was hired to replace him. So I was told to wake up bright and early tomorrow to begin with breakfast, and in-between meals I would carry out other odd jobs that needed to get done.

It was a great plan really, and it made sense. The only issue: I can't cook. I'm not even honestly sure that I can microwave properly. I never bothered to learn how when I was always alone and it was so much easier to order take out rather than trying to cook when I was in my self-induced stupor. But at the time of the decision I couldn't find it in myself to burden the Autobots further when they seemed so content over this solution, and I definitely couldn't complain to Lennox, who was basically my new boss, after the conversation we'd had.

I lithely stepped out of the shower and dried off before grabbing a loose pair of long pajama pants and a tank top to sleep in, grimacing at the memory of our little exchange.

-.-.-.-.-

_I glanced up from beneath my lashes at the man stalking before me, jumping every time his annoyed mutterings rose above a whisper. He was taking long strides, forcing me to near-jog to keep up on shorter legs, and every so often he would shake his head or lash out with his arms as his angered mumbles rose in pitch._

_This went on for about five minutes as he led me down the hallway to my new quarters, him grumbling and shaking his head, me trailing nervously, before he finally turned around and fixed me under an intense gaze. I cringed back, and his blue eyes tightened slightly before he finally spoke up._

"_Why are you here?" His voice was commanding, the voice of someone who is aware of how in charge they are._

_I swallowed harshly, avoiding his probing gaze by staring at the floor._

"_I'm here because I want to help." My voice was tiny, intimidated, and Lennox rubbed his forehead while turning slightly._

"_You… Okay. Okay." The muscles of his shoulders were tense. "Listen, I'm not saying you're a liar, but this is hard for me to accept. Optimus believes you, and I have faith in him. But you have to understand here, I'm in charge of this base. It's my job to make sure nothing goes wrong, and if something does, I'll be held responsible." Now Lennox faced me full-on once more, staring directly into my smoky eyes. "Not only that, but the Autobots are my friends, and I don't like the idea of anyone hurting them or deceiving them. I'm going to watch you very carefully. One slip up, and you're out. And if you're going to be here, you're going to pull your own weight. Don't expect me to go easy on you because you're a kid." _

_I straightened my shoulders, his words causing something in me to rise to the challenge in his voice. I slowly looked up, fighting nervousness that told me to keep my head down and stay quiet. I cleared my throat, trying not to squirm under his eyes._

"_Sir, with all due respect, I'm here because of all I said. I don't have any insidious purpose like you're looking for, I came here because… Well, I don't want to-I don't want to simply stand by anymore and watch all these things happen and just, just drown them out. I know I can help you all…" I struggled with my words, not exactly willing to give my life story to a man who was still a stranger to me, but for some reason wanting to earn his approval._

_Lennox continued staring into my cloudy eyes, his never losing their hard edge._

"_Then you'll have to prove it."_

-.-.-.-.-

I sighed, toppling into my bed. My hair lay out in a wet fan around my head, and I knew that it was going to be a horror in the morning, but at this point I didn't really care. At least I was clean. I shifted once, to pull up the scratchy covers over my limp form, before snuggling into the pillow and immediately falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

-.-.-.-.-

I stared into the vast expanse before me, my eyes widening in helpless terror at the arduous journey that was sure to ensue the moment I stepped forward. I began my lifelong habit of gnawing on my lower lip, my brain attempting to wrap around the sight before me. I knew that at this moment all the color was draining slowly out of my already pale face, and that my hands were wringing the hair net they held into a sad little shape.

"Um, Alithia? Are you okay?" I was snapped out of my panicked daze by Epps as he waved a tan hand in front of my face.

I jolted slightly, and then turned to face him with a quickly manufactured smile.

"Of course! So what sounds like a good breakfast Epps?" I began praying in my head that it would be something easy as Epps shrugged, shaking off my nervous tone.

Epps scratched his head as he thought, speaking almost unconsciously as thoughts came to his head.

"Well… Dominic, the old cook, used to experiment all the time with weird things; he never made the same meal twice. So personally I'm in the mood for a nice, normal batch of pancakes." Epps grinned at the thought, but I was internally sweating over exactly how easy pancakes were to make. "I think he left some cookbooks around here somewhere, so you can use those. And make sure to make a lot, the guys here like to eat."

I grimaced, hoping the guys here also liked the flavor called burnt.

Epps merely continued on, unaware of my internal panic.

"After breakfast I have some duties to take care of, but Sideswipe said he'll show you around." I whipped around to stare at him when he mentioned the silver twin, my insides knotting even more. "Anyways, I have to go, but good luck. I'll see you at breakfast."

Ignoring my sinking stomach, I called after Epps once, startling myself with my own curiosity. He gave me a questioning look, and I stammered for a minute to figure out what I wanted to say as he patiently waited.

"Um… Just, I thought you didn't trust me?" My words were more of a question than anything.

Epps looked at me for a minute, as startled by my question as I was, before responding.

"Well, I didn't know what to think of you at first, but you seem nice enough to me. Besides, as far as I know you haven't given me a reason to not trust you yet." Epps simply shrugged, a small smile on his face. "I figure you're going to get enough crap in this place that it might be nice to have someone to help out. Also, Lennox did assign me to help you out, so don't get too full of yourself." Here Epps grinned, teasing me. "Anyways, you'd best get working or you'll have a cafeteria full of hungry soldiers."

As soon as he said those words, the bubble of happiness that had been rising in my chest popped and I hunched over as Epps strode out of the kitchen.

Alone in what was quite possibly my worst nightmare, I slowly turned away from the door to stare into the shiny depths of the kitchen, pulling the abused hair net slowly over my curly bun while looking over the various pots and pans as one might look over a group of caged tigers. I slowly stepped forward, skirting through the large space towards where an impressive group of books was placed in a neat row, randomly grabbing one. I flipped through the pages quickly, my brain ignoring all words until I found pancakes. I skimmed the page, steadily chewing on my lower lip as I felt my uncertainty lower a little.

How hard can it be to make pancakes?

An hour later I coughed as smoke filled my nose and grabbed at the handle of the pan before me, immediately dropping it to the floor as it burned me. Deadly shards of burnt pancake scattered across the once-pristine white tile, and I crushed several of them as I hopped around blowing on my fingers. Finally I regained enough sense to shove them under cold water from the sink, but that only lasted so long as the smell of burning once again filled my nose.

"Damn it!" I shoved myself away from the sink, the water still running, and this time grabbed a hot pad before attempting to remove another pan with burnt pancakes in it.

I turned off the stove top, throwing down the hot pad and ripping the hairnet from my hair. The kitchen was in complete disarray, batter splattered across the walls from a failed attempt with the mixer, burnt remains of pancakes littering the floor from my recent drop, and several stacks of semi-edible looking pancakes in rows by the stove. I groaned, ripping my hair from a bun into a ponytail before leaning my elbows on the counter and burying my face in them. Tears of frustration began to well in my eyes, and I began to angrily blink them back.

Slowly, more trying to keep myself from crying than to actually be productive, I began to clean up the remains of the kitchen. Each small fragment of burnt pancake was swept up, every splatter of batter wiped off, and by the end of my cleaning spree I felt just as frustrated but less teary. I glanced at the questionable stacks of pancakes, before shrugging, knowing that it was nearly breakfast time.

"Screw it. Not like there's anything else I can do." My words were small and tired in the large kitchen, and I sluggishly began moving the plates of pancakes from the counter near the stove to the long window that connected to the cafeteria and was used to serve the soldiers their food.

Almost as soon as I set down the last stack and put out syrup, I heard echoing voices enter the cafeteria. Instinct took over and I darted around the kitchen, looking for a place to hide. After a moment of frantic searching, I dove behind a long island shelf in the center of the kitchen and crouched there as the voices became clear, causing me to cringe as I realized it was a crowd.

"Does it smell like smoke in here?"

"What the hell is that?"

"I think those are pancakes?

"They… Could be."

"They look kinda sketchy."

"I don't think I want to eat those."

"Hell no! I'm starving! Move it!"

I held my breath as the sound of scraping plates rang out and the crowd hushed. I heard the scraping of a fork, and then for a moment all was silent. All of the sudden the air was filled with a coughing, choking sound, and I heard the crowd 'awww' in both humor and disappointment.

"It's filled with powder!"

"Someone didn't mix this!"

"Speaking of someone, who made these?"

It was silent for a moment, and my heart was pounding so loud that I feared they could hear it. I swallowed once, but knew that I had to accept my fate. How long could I hide from a bunch of soldiers? I slowly slid up the edge of the counter, my back to the crowd, before turning to face them with a bright red face. There were several soldiers, about fifteen, dressed in army greens. One gruff-looking one was standing in the front, still red in the face from his coughing fit. They stared at me, expressions varying from amusement to annoyance. The one who'd coughed particularly looked annoyed. As the silence continued, I realized I was expected to speak.

"U-uh, I'm the new cook." My voice was a squeak, and I struggled to look them in the faces.

"Why the bloody hell would they hire you?!" The gruff, red-faced one spoke up in a faint British accent, giving me a nasty glare.

"Well, I mean… Cheap labor?" A heard a couple snickers, but this only made the British man grow more red in the face.

"Calm down man, some of these look okay." A short, Latino man spoke up now, carefully slicing open a pancake to check this inside before looking back at me with a grin. "See? This one's a little burnt, but it seems edible!"

"Fig's right. Just shut up and say thanks for the food." A familiar voice spoke up from the back, and I felt relief flow through my veins at the sight of Epps pushing his way to the front of the crowd. He directed his attention away from the still apprehensive but now moving soldiers and onto me. "Sideswipe's waiting." I nodded, about to make a hasty retreat before Epps spoke up once more. "Oh, and nice job hiding behind the counter. Very original."

My face began to burn once more, and I quickly darted out the door as laughter rang out at my expense.

As soon as I stepped out I spotted Sideswipe. How could I _not_ immediately spot the giant robot?

He was obviously waiting for me, and looked rather bored. He was fidgeting, rolling back and forth on his wheels, and watching the soldiers move around. I steeled myself, honestly not quite knowing how to deal with the robots that drew me here. However, as it turns out I didn't get a chance to decide how because as soon as I moved towards him, he spotted me and his optics (as I learned they were called) brightened, turning a luminous, sky blue. He rolled over to me immediately, scooping me up in a giant metal hand. The air whooshed out of me as I quickly rose, and I was given no time to talk as Sideswipe rolled forward.

"Wh-what?!" I was curled in-between metal fingers and moving at a fast pace through the halls before my mind could process it.

"Finally! We have to move, I have no idea when Ironhide will find out!" Sideswipe called down to me, agilely darting around the soldiers in the large hall, who either dove for it or shook their heads with knowing grins.

I blinked once before clutching onto the surprisingly warm fingers around me, suddenly very aware of how high up I was in the air. I glanced down, regretted it immediately, and finally settled my eyes on the silver face before me.

"What are you talking about?! Put me down!" Sideswipe blinked, as though he hadn't expected me to protest his whisking me away.

"I can't! Unless you want to deal with Ironhide by yourself." I blanched at the thought of dealing with the massive, weapon-crazed mech.

"What'd you _do_?" Sideswipe gave a metallic grin, skidding around a corner and causing my to slam into the side of my finger-cage.

"Trust me, you'll find out." I stared at the metal face, not quite comprehending what was going on.

"Sideswipe!" I heard a roar coming from behind us, and I turned just enough in Sideswipe's hand to see a bright, neon pink Topkick tearing through the halls behind us, not even bothering to dodge around scrambling soldiers who were nearly crippled with laughter.

So I burst out laughing, little bubbles of exhilaration filling my veins.

"Sideswipe, I am going to send you to the Pit! You fragging-" Ironhide's voice was filled with thundering promise, but upon hearing the masculine voice coming from the neon pink hummer I couldn't help but laugh harder.

I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life.

* * *

**A/N: Hey all! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I hope that you enjoyed Alithia's little cookfest (FAIL), and Sideswipe's prank! The fun begins... Anyways, review! (: Bye bye! **

**Word Count: 3,122**


	7. Working at the Car Wash

**A/N: Hey people, before you read just a quick note about the story! Just wanted to let you all know that the time frame of this is after the first movie but before the second. And that things are going to start speeding up probably after the next chapter because we'll get into the nitty gritty of the true plot now that Alithia is on the base and settling in! Anyways, please enjoy! (: **

* * *

I snickered slightly as Sideswipe stepped back, glaring vehemently at the now normal, non-pink Ironhide with his own pink tinted hands. He clicked something out in Cybertronian, no doubt cursing the Topkick, before storming to his parking spot in the garage to sulk while rubbing at his fingers. It looked like a manicure gone wrong.

"I wouldn't be laughing femme. It's your turn now." Ironhide's deep rumble rang out, and I couldn't help but notice that his mood seemed to improve just as quickly as he ruined Sideswipe's.

I turned, slightly nervous about being so close to the weapon specialist, and unconsciously tried to shield myself with the bucket and sponge I brandished. The bucket was filled to the brim with warm, soapy water, and it was also my form of punishment. You see, after Ironhide had inevitably chased down Sideswipe and myself, he was steaming. His guns were whirring, and cursed both English and Cybertronian were falling from his lips. Even with the neon pink coating of paint that covered his form, Ironhide still managed to scare me enough to stop the laughing. And with Ironhide that mad, the choices were pretty much either surrender and face punishment or die. So Sideswipe surrendered, but right as I was about to waltz my way out of the way of Ironhide's rage he turned those smoldering blue optics on me and growled out that if I "value my pathetic squishy life," to halt. Apparently being found with the culprit made me just as guilty as him. So it was determined, by Ironhide himself, that after Sideswipe removed the paint, I'd give him a wash. Which also sort of surprised me. Who knew that giant alien robots enjoyed washes?

I stepped forward slowly, eyeing the giant truck warily and wondering how in the heck I was going to reach the top.

"I can't believe she got the easy job…" I whipped around to face the pouting silver warrior, my jaw dropping slightly.

"What? You're the one who pranked him!" The words popped out before I even thought about it, and Ironhide snorted from behind me.

"She got it easy because she became my favorite human femme after she vomited on Sunstreaker." I flushed bright red at the memory, and quickly bent down to soak the sponge. "Any human who does that deserves to be honored."

Sideswipe laughed, his bad mood evaporating at the memory, and slowly rolled back towards us, taking advantage of the hose laying nearby to clean his fingers as he spoke.

"Yeah, he was so mad! As soon as a human gets within ten feet from him he starts to back up. I think you scarred him Ali." I glanced up at Sideswipe at the nickname, plopping the sponge onto Ironhide and starting to scrub and pausing as his form shuddered slightly.

"I didn't mean to." I was whispering now from embarrassment, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Sideswipe watching me with curious blue optics. I cleared my throat slightly, quickly changing the subject. "So, are you and Sunstreaker friends?"

"We're twins." I looked up from my job, my natural curiosity kicking in.

"Twins? How does that work?"

"Well, it's hard to explain to humans. Basically, rather than us both having one spark, which is like our heart, when we were created we both split one. I have one half and Sunny has the other." Sideswipe grimaced, making a very human expression of frustration. "Ratchet could probably explain it better."

I leaned forward, trying to reach farther up Ironhide's hood, but paying more attention to my conversation with Sideswipe. I also made a mental note to push aside my fear of the grumpy bot and go ask Ratchet about this later.

"So, do you guys have something special because of that? Like I've heard of human twins being able to feel the other's pain and such." Several questions were coming now, bubbling at my lips all at once.

Sideswipe nodded, leaning down more to my level.

"Definitely. We have a twin bond, just like Skids and Mudflap. We basically need each other to survive. If we got separated for a long period of time that bond could weaken, and that would severely harm both of our sparks." I nodded slowly, taking it all in.

Ironhide snorted, snapping me out of my daze.

"More like if they were separated, this base would be a far more peaceful place. Also I would like to inform you that you have been scrubbing the same spot for the past five minutes." I glanced down, realized that he was right, and flushed all over again.

"Sorry, sorry." I quickly got back to work, scrubbing off bits of paint Sideswipe had missed and slowly running the sponge along the seam at the edge of the hood.

Suddenly Ironhide shuddered so violently that I nearly slid off the top of his hood. As it was my arms slipped and I was now covered in suds. Meanwhile Sideswipe was rolling back and forth on his wheels laughing.

"What was _that_?" I stayed completely still, afraid to incite another shiver.

"Be more careful femme!" I blinked for a second, hearing… Chagrin?

I slowly slid up, a small idea taking root in my mind.

"Ironhide… Are you _ticklish_?" Very suddenly the truck jerked backwards, and this time I did fall off the hood, plopping onto the ground rather painfully.

"No! Don't be ridiculous!" The words were growled, but I felt a small smile curling at the edge of my lips.

After all, how can you be scared of a ticklish robot?

I slowly started to giggle, and by this point Sideswipe was nearly falling over with laughter. Ironhide's engine roared, and he quickly fishtailed, scattering suds everywhere, and screamed out of the garage, still soaked and soapy. I slowly stood, rubbing my sore butt, and broke out into full laughter.

"I can't believe Ironhide is ticklish!" I grinned at the ensuing mental image of Ironhide attempting to fight, only to be taken out by a feather duster.

"I took a video." My gray eyes widened, taking in the devilish smirk on Sideswipe's face, before I began to laugh harder.

"Dibs on first wash!" My laughter cut off at the sound of squealing tires and clangs of metal.

"You gotta make it there first!"

I cringed at a particularly loud bang of metal on metal before two Chevy's squealed into the garage. For a moment it was almost funny, watching the two arguing cars race, until I realized they were speeding towards me. I froze, a deer in headlights move, as they sped forward, before I was scooped up by Sideswipe. He didn't even bother to move, instead just batting the two cars aside. I was gaping, completely thinking that they were hurt, before they transformed up, both of the twins rubbing their heads and glaring at Sideswipe.

"Hey what was that for?!"

"We didn't do nothing!"

The two spoke near simultaneously, both giving Sideswipe the exact same glare. He merely responded by leaning back, crossing his arms after allowing me to climb off of his hand. The expression of Sideswipe's face was only marginally less annoyed than the twins'.

"You two nearly ran her over!" The twins reared back at his words, almost appearing hurt at the accusation.

"Hey we wouldn't hurt her, right Skids?" Mudflap spoke up, looking to his brother for support.

"We sho' wouldn't. Sorry if we scared ya' Ali! We jus' saw Ironhide all soapy and wanted a wash too…" Now both twins were looking at me with a metallic version of puppy eyes, and I was slowly starting to compare the two to a pair of teenagers.

It was at that moment that I learned of my weakness to puppy eyes.

"Well… I guess I could give you a wash… As long as I finish before dinner time…" The two burst into cheers, engaging into some complicated high five while Sideswipe huffed next to me.

"Well I hope you know that if they get a wash I want one too." I cocked a brow at the cockiness in his voice, but shrugged, accepting defeat.

"Fine. I never would've expected you guys to enjoy car washes so much." I began preparing the bucket and soap, making sure the water was warmed up enough as Ironhide had specified earlier.

"It feels good to be clean. Isn't it much the same for humans?" His voice contained more static now, Sideswipe having transformed down to his car form.

I nodded absently as he spoke, the twins switching back into Chevy mode as I did. A thought began to take root in my mind, something that happens quite often to me I'd realized. If I was going to wash three cars, why not treat the rest? I mean, I just arrived and it might at least make some of them trust me more. And I'd have to face them sometime; I might as well face them while I'm doing something nice.

"Um, Sideswipe?" It felt surreal to talk to a car, but it went straight into weird when he rolled slightly to acknowledge me. "Could you let the others know that, if they want, I mean, I'll wash them too. Since I'm already going to wash you three." I finished quickly, chewing on my lower lip.

There was a slight pause, and I began to worry that I'd made a mistake with the offer, and then Sideswipe spoke.

"They're coming." I could almost hear the snicker in his voice, and it made me gnaw on my lip harder.

"Why's that funny?"

"They're _all _coming." I blinked, plopping a sponge onto Skids, and started scrubbing.

"How many Autobots are on the base?"

"Twelve, counting us three."

_Oh crap._

I sighed, sending a small prayer out that the soldiers on base wouldn't mind a late dinner. At least they made their own lunches. Then I began to scrub at Skids more thoroughly, trying to both do a good job and hurry. It was weird, washing a car that would tell you problem spots and shiver occasionally. At least he was smaller than Ironhide so I wouldn't slide off every time he moved. Even so, by the time I was ready to dry Skids off my black tank top and jeans were soaked and I'd had to pull my curls back into a dripping ponytail. Not only that, but as I towel dried the relaxed Chevy several other cars began to drift in, even Ironhide again for a complete wash. I quickly moved onto Mudflap, not wanting to make them wait too long, surely they must be busy. I almost felt awkward with the crowd, but it was hard to when they held their own little conversations and mostly sat off waiting patiently. It also helped that Skids and Mudflap kept trying to pull me into their banter and Sideswipe was distracting me with light conversation. It got even better when Skids began to play music, putting me in my comfort zone.

"Ohh…" Mudflap gave a low groan as I finished drying his hood, stepping back to smile at the shining Chevy. "Ali's got the magic fingers. Thanks Curly, I owe you one."

"Now it's my turn." Sideswipe smoothly slid into the spot Mudflap had vacated, impatiently urging the languid bot to move.

I huffed slightly, already sweating after just two cars. I moved a wet bang hanging in front of my gray eyes, reaching for the hose to rinse him down. I swayed slightly as I stood, unable to resist dancing along to the beat pulsing from Skids' speakers.

"_You thinking that the songs coming on to tempt me, I need to be alone like the way you left me."_

"Shawdy's getting down!" I froze at Mudflap's words, flushing deep red.

"No, I'm not." I quickly sprayed Sideswipe down, scrubbing at him almost violently in my embarrassment.

"Actually you kind of were. Not that I'm complaining." I smacked the sponge down on Sideswipe's hood.

_Traitor._

"No I wasn't." I was muttering now, ducking my head out of habit.

"What's wrong with dancing? A femme shouldn't be embarrassed by that skill." For the first time someone else entered our conversation, one with a voice like bells and a confident smirk.

Arcee continued to speak, rolling up smoothly.

"And you're good at it too."

I glanced around, suddenly completely out of my comfort zone as other bots began to pay attention to us.

"Well, I mean, I used to dance. I just don't anymore." I kept my eyes focused on Sideswipe's windshield, avoiding the eyes of curious bots.

I jumped slightly as he spoke, gripping the sponge tighter.

"Why not?"

_Because I didn't have anyone to dance with. Because it's hard to dance when you're on drugs to sleep. Because there was no reason to._

"Because I didn't want to." There was enough truth behind those words to halt that line of questioning, but enough nervousness to earn me a hard, suspicious glance from Chromia and a curious one from Arcee, not to mention the variety of glances from other bots.

And it seemed as though Arcee was intent on bringing up awkward subjects for me, intentional or not.

"Alithia, do you have a family? I imagine they must wonder where you disappeared to." Her question was an innocent one, but once again I found myself tensing up.

It was quiet for a moment as I thought of what to say. I could've lied, but to be honest I'm a horrible liar. Besides, if I wanted to earn my place here, it'd be better to start on a base of truth. So I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before I began.

"I haven't seen my parents for four years. As soon as I turned eighteen they politely told me to leave and never come back." I couldn't help the bitterness that crept into my voice at the memory.

Literally, as soon as I was eighteen, on my birthday, my parents had talked to me, a rare occurrence in itself, and told me to leave. They didn't want to deal with the crazy child anymore. They gave me until that night to pack up and leave, grudgingly giving me one hundred dollars to start out with. On my way out the door, my mother had told me that she hoped this was our last meeting. A part of me couldn't blame them for it, who wants to deal with a daughter who goes into fits regularly and claims to see the future? But that didn't stop the resentment and hurt that they put into me. Honestly, I wouldn't go back now even if they wanted me.

Sideswipe jerked under my fingers lightly, his engine gunning, and Arcee reeled back, disbelief crossing her expression.

"Your creators did that?" There was a note of disgust in her chiming voice, and I nodded, feeling a similar emotion bubble in myself.

"Yes. We… We weren't close." My words were clipped, and I noticed a mutter go through the cluster of Autobots. "My visions started when I was in the first grade, and ever since then they decided that they couldn't deal with me."

"That's horrible." I looked down at the silver car I was currently rinsing off, hearing a heat to his tone that startled me.

"I survived." There was a moment of silence before Ratchet spoke up, rolling forward in his alt mode.

"I don't mean to be abrupt, but would you mind explaining your visions to me? I want to understand how they happen." I couldn't help the small smile that crossed my face at his words.

_Of course the giant alien wouldn't realize he was breaking an awkward moment._

"Well, it's not complicated exactly. It's kind of hard to explain." I stopped for a moment, collecting myself and steeling myself to talk about my most sensitive subject. "I guess… Before I have one I can usually sort of know they're coming-"

"How so?" Ratchet was close now, leaning forward on his wheels, and similarly all of the other bots were quiet, excluding the twins, who had left when the discussion began to get serious.

"Well, I feel sick to my stomach. Usually I'll get a migraine too, and they carry over to after my vision. I just generally feel really shaky, and I feel dizzy. Usually I start to feel like this about a minute before it happens. Then right before my eyesight gets foggy, and it almost feels like I get pulled into it."

"What about during?" This time it was Ironhide who spoke up.

I was now done with Sideswipe, leaning on his hood lightly as I spoke.

"Well, that varies. They're really confusing most of the time. I can have a full, clear vision, or I can have one with only sight, no other senses. I've had some with only sounds too. I can see it like a movie reel, or I can see it from someone else's point of view. Those are usually the most confusing for me because it's disorienting to be thrust into someone else's body. No, actually the most confusing is when I'm not really there at all. I mean, okay this is hard to explain." It slowly became easier to talk as I went on, but it also became tricky to explain the complexities of my visions. "Sometimes it's like I'm just floating. Or drifting. I'm not really there and that makes it really hard to focus on anything."

"Can you induce them?" I was jolted from my musings as Chromia spoke up, her voice slightly less hard than before but still cool.

"Well… I'm not sure. I've only tried once, and it was a complete failure. I've never really wanted to induce them before that, because they… Aren't pleasant." I winced at the thought of a vision, praying that it'd be awhile before I had one.

"I have a question for you." My head whipped around at the stern voice coming from the large garage doorway. "Where's dinner?"

Lennox was leaning against the side of the door, a stern expression on his face and a vein pulsing at his temple. I wondered how long he had been there; for a strong soldier the man walked like a cat. I gulped, looking up to the clock mounted on the wall and paling at the time there. I quickly began to walk to the door, muttering a sorry to the bots, most of whom gave disappointed groans at me leaving.

"Um, dinner. Yeah, it's coming." I flinched away as I walked past him, near running to the kitchen as he muttered under his breath and shook his head.

"I wanted her to get rid of my hard water stains." I heard the grumble from Ironhide, and despite my rush I couldn't help but smile at his words and shake my head slightly.

However, the smile was wiped off my face as the one thing that kept niggling at the back of my brain this whole time came forward and I realized that, despite all the bots in the garage, not one had been a yellow Ferrari.

* * *

**A/N: Hey all! Thanks for reading! Please review! Also, I really can't help myself, I love the Chevy twins! I think they're funny and cute! 3**

**Word Count: 3,206**


	8. Let the Flames Begin

"Clear out men! Ali's heading into the kitchen!" I rolled my smoky eyes at the shout from Graham and the accompanying charming grin he sent my way, his green eyes glittering.

"At ease, soldier. I'm making sandwiches." I slowly stepped into the kitchen, scowling at the chorus of cheers at the statement.

_I'm not _that _bad…_

Giving a wide berth to the devil machine dubbed a stove, I moved to the fridge to get my sandwich supplies ready. As I pulled out lettuce and tomatoes, a small smile slid across my face at the bubbles of chatter from the little groups of soldiers in dining room.

As time passed, I slowly began to settle into my new role onto the base. That is, everyone else started to get used to me. It started with my role in the kitchen, which had not improved despite my various attempts to learn how to cook. The only thing I could be successful with were sandwiches. No matter what else I tried, somehow I always managed to spill, burn, or explode whatever I made. And when I say explode, I mean we had to buy a new stove. Quickly soldiers began to avoid the kitchen, mostly making their own food or scavenging from the few edible things I made, but somehow my pathetic attempts had earned me a place here. Granted it was usually as a source of humor, but that was better than nothing. Not only that, but I quickly found a good friend in Epps. After sticking up for me that first time, he quickly became something like brother to me. Teasing, but protective and someone I could trust. I'd never had a place where I fit in before, and while it wasn't exactly perfect for me here, it something close to home.

The humans on base, however, were only one aspect of my integration. The harder part came in the form of the several large robots on base. Where the humans easily accepted me as the harmless cook, the Autobots had a hard time accepting me as a psychic. Well, most of them. Oddly enough, I found myself growing very close to the Chevy twins. Despite their rambunctious nature, they quickly accepted me and were a constant source of fun. Somehow I had developed a soft spot for them. Then there was Sideswipe… The silver bot had immediately latched onto me, although I don't have any real idea why. At first I thought it was curiosity and had closed myself off from him just as I did with most of the others, but slowly I began to accept him as a friend. I don't even really know how it came about, but one day he was the silver robot that followed me around, and the next he was my friend.

My small smiled widened as I sloppily chopped a tomato, my thoughts focusing on the first time I'd really felt close to him.

-.-.-.-.-.-

_I blinked up at the stars, watching as my breath puffed out before me and clouded up the night sky. My legs hung idly off of the crate I rested on, swinging slowly as I looked back out to the murky tree line. My grip tightened on the pencil in my hand, my gray eyes sharpening to a hard color, and very suddenly I was letting the scene before me pour out onto my paper. Slowly the shadows of the vigilant trees were taking shape on my worn drawing pad, stars pooling above them. Just as I began to add more detail to the sturdy forest, I heard a crunch behind me. I whirled on the crate, my heart jumping into my throat. _

"_What's that?" I let out a deep breath at the mechanical voice, placing a hand over my heart._

"_What?" My voice was breathless, recovering from the start Sideswipe had given me. _

"_Did you draw that?" I followed his glowing blue gaze to my drawing book, my grip tightening almost protectively around it._

"_Yes." I glanced back up at him, feeling odd; I'd never shown anyone my drawings before._

_He slowly rolled forward more, and I got the sense he was trying not to startle me. He leaned over, looking over the unfinished page._

"_It's good. You have good depth." I blushed slightly at the praise, turning to look back at the sky._

"_Thanks. I really wish I had some paint for a scene like this." I sighed at the thought, missing all the art supplies I'd had to leave behind to come here. _

"_You paint? You should talk to Sunny about that; he paints too." I whipped around to look at Sideswipe, checking to see if he was joking, but he looked serious._

"_I… I don't think Sunstreaker likes me." That was putting it nicely; he'd pretty much avoided me the whole time I'd been here, and when he had to be near me the space between us was filled with his icy glares._

"_Yeah, he doesn't." I blinked, startled by his bluntness. "Don't take it personally, he doesn't really like anyone." _

"_Oh." I felt slightly better knowing that at least I wasn't the only one he didn't like._

_There was a moment of awkward silence, before Sideswipe slowly spoke again._

"_Can I see more of your drawings?" _

_I looked back up at him, searching his metallic face. We locked gazes for a moment, blue and gray clashing, before I blinked and looked away, suddenly feeling the chill in the air. _

"_I-I guess that's okay." I slowly began to flip through the book, Sideswipe crouching down to look through with me. _

_As we paused on a drawing from my vision of the battle in Mission City, I glanced over at the metal giant beside me, wondering why I suddenly felt like trusting him._

_-.-.-.-.-.-_

From that night on, I'd slowly grown accustomed to Sideswipe's presence, opening up to him gradually. It was easy to chatter with him, laughing as he told me about his impressive and slightly scary array of pranks and then smirking as he lamented about the ensuing punishments. And slowly, gradually the other bots began to grudgingly trust me too. Some of the first were Ratchet, who I actually enjoyed to visit because of the amazing conversations we had about Cybertronian life, and, surprisingly, Ironhide. It seems that he _always_ needed a car wash now. Others, such as Chromia, were harder to swing around, but while she still didn't fully trust me she did remain cordial to me. The only truly frigid one now was Sunstreaker, and I couldn't even begin to think of a way to fix that. It probably didn't help tat I avoided him just as fervently as he avoided me, but I couldn't help but get nervous around the yellow twin.

I set down the final plate of sandwiches, calling out that dinner was ready before quickly removing my apron and tugging my curly locks out of their ponytail. I threw down some mayonnaise and mustard before turning and darting to the kitchen door, eager to get out of the dreadful place.

"Hey Chef, where are you off to in such a hurry?" I turned back to smile at Epps, who was leaning over the counter and peering into the kitchen.

"Sideswipe said I could come watch him spar today." Sparring was something that the Autobots participated in quite frequently, sometimes even with soldiers, but I'd never seen it before.

"Oh, eager to see Sides get his ego knocked down?" Epps grinned, and I couldn't help but return the smile.

"He sure needs it." Epps and I both laughed before I slipped out the swinging door, entering the near empty hall.

I walked down to the stack of crates I always waited for Sides on, tugging my black jacket on tighter. Did they always have to keep it so cold on base? I mean, I know that half the population is metallic and could care less about the small chill, but for the mammals on base it was not pleasant. I pulled myself up onto one of the crates, tempted to pull my arms up the sleeves of my jacket to get them to the center.

I was so caught up in my inner rant against the chill that I didn't notice the rev of an engine before the yellow Ferrari screeched past me, then slowly slid to a halt. I watched with wide eyes as Sunstreaker lingered past me for a moment, before backing up to a stop before me and beginning to rise up. I froze, tensing cautiously at the sight of a transforming Sunstreaker before me. I began chewing my lip as he came to his full height, looking down at me with a ferocious glare that poured animosity. For a moment there was silence, and I began to fear that I was about to be squished before he spoke.

"You should leave. No one wants you here." I flinched at the harsh words, curling into myself slightly.

"I- I thought that… I mean, I wanted to he-" My words slowly tapered off into silence as Sunstreaker's expression only darkened further, taking an almost mocking edge.

"You help _nothing_. You're merely another squishy to get underfoot. An _insect_ that should be squashed." I reeled back, shocked by the hatred in his tone. I mean, I knew he didn't like me, but I never expected this level of disgust.

I glanced at the ground, my ankles twisting as I fumbled for words.

"Look, I… You…" I took a deep breath, ignoring the way he rolled his optics at me. "Sunstreaker, please… Sideswipe told me you don't like me, but I-"

"_What?_" I flinched as his tone went deadly, and something sparked in his optics. "Don't you _dare_ talk to me about Sideswipe. I know you may think you are friends with him, but you know nothing about him and he doesn't care at all for you."

"But…" I felt my lower lip begin to quiver.

Sunstreaker leaned down, his icy blue optics staring straight into my cloudy eyes.

"The only reason he _ever _began to talk to you is because he was assigned to be your guardian since no one volunteered. He just has to make sure you aren't a spy. He doesn't care about you" Sunstreaker seemed almost amused by the idea. "You're an assignment." I looked away, sliding off the crate as his words cut deep.

I slowly began to walk away, turning my back to the yellow robot. I faintly heard Sunstreaker transform back down to his alt mode and speed off, but I didn't make a move to go back and meet Sideswipe. I made my way back to my room, sliding past the few soldiers in the hall like a wraith, unnoticed. As soon as I shut the door to my quarters, I slid down the wall, my face expressionless.

Why did it hurt so much to think that he didn't like me? That he was only around me because he had to be? I bit my lip, trying to forget Sunstreaker's words, but unable to ignore the fact that Sideswipe _had _started to hang around me pretty quickly. It wasn't just hurt either, although that was a big part of it, I felt _betrayed_. Which was ridiculous, because Sides didn't owe me anything, but despite that I still felt little angry bubbles building up in me. Feeling a little overwhelmed by these foreign feelings, I struggled against both the urge to cry and the shocking on to punch something. I stood, pacing the length of my room slowly instead, before I heard an engine rev outside my door.

_Speak of the devil…_

I slowly pulled open the door halfway, poking my head out to look at the silver bot standing there. Sides was grinning, looking completely pumped for his spar, and rolling back and forth on his wheels. Despite this, for some reason I got the feeling he wasn't quite as upbeat as usual. I glanced at him searchingly, before I remembered that I was supposed to be upset.

"Hey! Why weren't you at the spot? Did you forget that today you get to watch me take down the Hatchet?" I gave a tiny smile at his words, but didn't make a move to leave my room.

After a short moment of internal debate, I decided that now was as good a time as any to find out the truth.

"Hey Sides… Were you-are you my guardian?" Sides froze, shuttering his optics once before looking down at me.

"Well, uh, yeah-" I cut him off quickly, feeling an embarrassed and slightly angry flush come to my cheeks.

"Okay. Just, just go without me. I'll stay here, you don't need to worry about watching me today." I couldn't help but keep the hurt bite out of my words, shocking even myself.

Sides rolled back slightly, his expression falling.

"What are you talking about?" I looked away from his eyes, feeling both horrible for my reaction but at the same time wondering how long he was going to pretend to be my friend.

"Look, Sideswipe, you don't need-" I gasped, clutching at my head as I my whole body was rocked with a headache.

I stumbled, falling to my knees as another wave of pain flooded my form.

_Really? Right now?_

"Alithia! Are you okay?" Sideswipe quickly reached down and picked my up, causing my stomach to lurch dangerously and a cold sweat to break out on my forehead. "I'm taking you to Ratchet."

I merely groaned, fingers twisting in my dark hair as Sideswipe sped off towards the training grounds where Ratchet had been awaiting their spar. The strong pulses through my head were slowly getting more frequent, and by the time we entered the small arena that served as a spar zone for the bots I was twisting in on myself and shaking, my surroundings were slowly fading in and out of waves of mist. I felt the steel tendrils of fog slowly tugging me somewhere, and I could barely focus on my immediate surroundings, caught in the painful limbo between the future and the present.

"Ratchet! I think she's having one!" Sideswipe…

"What's going on?" Optimus's deep rumble.

"Let me scan her… Her brain frequencies… Erratic…" Slowly Ratchet's words faded into white noise.

All I could feel now was the lurching of my stomach and the pain in my head. I think I was crying by now, but I wasn't quite sure. Just as the agony in my skull reached it's highest point, the foggy tentacles shoved me into the future, into someone else's mind…

_I had never been so terrified in my life. Fear was seeping into my system as I watched the Decepticons tear through the stone walls of our base like they were made out of paper. Gunshots went off, and I was faintly aware of my commander screaming in my ear as I froze up, but all I could focus on was the giant metal monster squishing and shooting my closest friends, the people who'd become my family. _

"_Rogers! Rogers! God damn it Samuel get it together!" I blinked at my commander's words, turning my head towards him slightly. _

_But it was too late, just as I turned to look at him his body went slack, taken out by Decepticon fire. I went numb as I watched his form fall to the ground, one thought entering my head._

Today's my birthday.

_Then I was face to face with a wave of fire, heat flooding my senses before I was engulfed. I screamed silently as I was devoured by flames, my skin bubbling and sizzling, before all I could recognize was heat. So hot, so hot-_

"Hot! Hot!" I surfaced screaming, feeling like my body was on fire.

I gasped and thrashed against bed restraints, sweating bullets and feeling bile rise in the back of my throat. Choked screams were still escaping my throat, tears streaming down my face, before I slowly realized that I wasn't on fire. I slowly stopped thrashing, but I continued sobbing, my skin still feeling the burns and my mind still feeling the fear.

As I slowly calmed, I realized that there were several Autobots around myself, watching or murmuring, and that I was no longer in the training area, but now in Ratchet's med bay.

"What the frag was that?" Ironhide spoke to me first, a disturbed look on his face.

I slowly took deep breaths, still feeling the strong need to vomit, but slowly recovering.

"That-" I winced at the scratchiness of my throat. "Was a vision."

"That was not like your last one." Arcee spoke up, frowning slightly. "Are you okay?"

"Um, yes I'm okay, that happens too often for me to still be upset. And I'll explain, but can I get out of these bed restraints?" Ratchet stepped forward, simply cutting them open, before immediately launching into medic mode. Somehow his scientific mode comforted me.

"How was that different from the last vision? I wish I could've gotten a scan during the last to compare… But this scan was amazing! Your brain waves were highly-" I cut him off, my eyes widening as the vision came back to me.

"Decepticons! They're coming!" A murmur ran through the bots, and I heard the click of several weapons and the whir of Ironhide's cannons.

"Autobots! Stand down! Alithia, can you please explain what you saw?" Optimus took control effortlessly, calming his soldiers before they even got riled up.

I nodded, regretting it as my head pulsed.

"I was someone else. Someone named Samuel Rogers. He, well, he saw Decepticons tear through the base. I think it was in the garage that they attacked… And his commander… He… Samuel was just standing there; he was so scared.. And then…" The tears came back with a vengeance as I recalled the death of Samuel's commander and then the terrible fire. "Samuel died."

There was a silence before Optimus spoke again, this time in a much more gentle tone.

"Alithia, I do not wish to press this sensitive subject, but it is very important. Do you know when this attack will occur?" Optimus gazed into my gray eyes, and I strained my memory.

"No… I didn't see a calendar, or a clock, or anything…" I felt my eyes well up again when I saw his disappointed expression, but then I felt something come back. "Wait. I don't know exactly when, but I think Samuel does…" Ironhide quickly scowled, and I realized how that must have sounded. "Not like that! I mean, it was… It was his birthday. If you figure out when his birthday is, then you'll know when they attack."

* * *

**A/N: Drama bomb! Anyways, thanks for reading! And before you condemn Sunstreaker, there is a reason for his little hissy fit. Anyways please review! (:**

**Word Count: 3,205**


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